Cross Cultural Adaptation of Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire for Hospital Workers With Low Back Pain

Abstract Background Low back trouble is one of the major work related musculoskeletal disorders that result to disability among workers. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) can serve as an inexpensive instrument for the identification and assessment of musculoskeletal symptoms, especially low back pain in formal and informal sector workers. Therefore, the aim of this study is to cross-culturally adapt NMQ to Igbo version to eliminate this limitation and to evaluate test-retest validity, criterion related validity and construct validity. Methods 45 Hospital orderlies were interviewed with both the standard and translated Igbo version of NMQ while 45 hospital orderlies marched for age and sex were interviewed with only the translated Igbo version. One week wash out period was given before re-administering the instrument on the hospital orderlies with Low back pain. Paired sample t-test was used to analyze the result. Results Results showed no significant correlation in test-retest validity (r² = 0.10; p < 0.005) and criterion validity (r² = 0.7; p < 0.005) in of the Igbo version of NMQ. Whereas, the construct validity had no significant correlation. Conclusions The Igbo version of the NMQ has an unacceptable reliability and validity.