Development and validation of Fibromyalgia Knowledge Questionnaire: FKQ

• Published in: Rheumatology international 2012-03, Vol.32 (3), p.655-662
• Main Authors: Suda, Alina L., Jennings, Fabio, Bueno, Vanessa C., Natour, Jamil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Female; Fibromyalgia; Focus Groups; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Personnel - education; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Original Article; Patient Education as Topic - methods; Reproducibility of Results; Rheumatology; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0172-8172; 1437-160X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00296-010-1627-7

The objective of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire for evaluating patients’ specific knowledge regarding fibromyalgia. The development of items and questions of the questionnaire was done using four focus group that included physicians, physical therapists, a nurse, and patients with fibromyalgia. Other 30 consecutive patients were recruited to evaluate the questionnaire’s reproducibility (intra- and inter-observer). In order to construct validity, the questionnaire was applied to healthcare professionals with knowledge on fibromyalgia and 20 other patients. To investigate sensitivity to change, the questionnaire was applied to 56 patients before and after an educational program (intervention group) or a waiting list (control group). Eighteen questions fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were understandable for more than 90% of the participants. The intraclass correlation coefficients for inter-observer and intra-observer reproducibility ranged from 0.65 to 0.90 and from 0.86 to 0.96, respectively (P