Translation, cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric properties of the Urdu version of the avoidance endurance behavior questionnaire in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

BACKGROUND

The Avoidance Endurance Questionnaire (AEQ) successfully measures the fear-avoidance and endurance-related responses to chronic pain.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to translate, cross-culturally adapt AEQ into Urdu and assess the reliability and validity of the Urdu version.

METHOD

For the translation and cross-cultural adaptation process, the Beaton Guidelines were followed. A total of 103 participants responded to the Urdu version of the AEQ SF-12, Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) at baseline and after 48 hours. The test-retest reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Cronbach's alpha was used to measure internal consistency. To measure validity, Pearson's correlation between the subscales of AEQ-Urdu and other outcome measures (SF-12, PCS and NPRS scores) were used (p< 0.05).

RESULTS

The mean age of the total 103 participants was 32.7 ± 10.90 among which 45 (43.6%) were male and 58 (56.3%) were female. The pre-final version of the translated AEQ was tested on 40 Urdu speaking participants and no major changes were made. The Cronbach's alpha for all subscales of the AEQ-Urdu ranged from 0.848-0.990. AEQ-U showed an excellent test-retest reliability with the ICC ranging from 0.775-0.996. The majority of the subscales of AEQ showed significant (p< 0.05) positive correlation with pain scales (PCS and NPRS) and negative correlation with the domains of SF-12.

CONCLUSION

The AEQ-U has reliable and valid construct validity, good internal consistency, and test-retest reliability, indicating that it has adequate psychometric features and can be a useful tool for evaluating pain responses in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.