Abstract
Background: Assessing attitudes and beliefs regarding low back pain is an integral component of a person-centered biopsychosocial approach to care.
Objectives: This study aimed to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Back Pain Attitudes Questionnaire (Back-PAQ) and to evaluate the psychometric properties of both the full 34-item version and its shortened versions.
Methods: Following recommended guidelines, cross-cultural adaptation process included forward and back translation, expert committee review, and pretesting using Three-Step Test-Interview. The psychometric properties evaluation involved physiotherapists and members of the general public, both with and without low back pain. Factor structure was analyzed using Principal Component Analysis, internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's α, and test-retest reliability was measured using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC).
Results: The Back-PAQ was translated and culturally adapted to Czech (Back-PAQ-CZ). Five hundred and thirty-nine participants (299 physiotherapists; 240 members of general public) were included for the analysis. No meaningful factor structure was found for the 34-item Back-PAQ-CZ. However, a meaningful factor structure and acceptable Internal Consistency were found for the 10-item and 8-item versions. The test-retest reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.94), good (ICC = 0.87) and moderate to good (ICC = 0.76) for the 34-, 10- and 8-item version, respectively.
Conclusions: The Back-PAQ-CZ and its shortened versions should only be used with an awareness of identified limitations.