Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Arabic Version of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia in Patients with Low Back Pain

Background: Chronic pain leads to extreme form of fear of movement, known as kinesiophobia. We aimed at the linguistic andcultural adaption of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) into the Arabic language, followed by the evaluation of its psychometric properties. Methods: The Arabic translation of TSK was performed by two independent translators. Next, the concise translation, developed from the two translations, was retranslated to English, and compared with the original questionnaire. The reliability and validity of the Arabic form of TSK was assessed on patients with LBP, admitted to the out-patient clinics in Prince Mutaib Bin Abdul Aziz Hospital, Al Jouf, Saudi Arabia. Apart from the demographic data, TSK and five other questionnaires were used to measure the level of kinesiophobia. Test-retest and Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the reliability and internal consistency. Spearman’s correlation was performed for construct validation. Results: Eighty-two patients were enrolled. An excellent test-retest reliability was observed after 2 days (ICC=0.91; 95% CI: 0.90-0.92) as well as after 14 days (ICC=0.87; 95% CI: 0.84-0.90). The internal consistency of the translated version was also high (Cronbach’s alpha=0.83). The correlation between TSK and FABQ was moderate (r=0.68), and fair for NRS, RMDQ, and MODI (r=0.47, 0.37, and 0.42, respectively). The sensitivity to change was found to be low. Conclusions: The robustness and sustainability of the translated Arabic version of TSK suggested that this questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool for the measurement of kinesiophobiain the Arab population suffering from LBP.