Cervical spine outcomes questionnaire: its development and psychometric properties

Abstract

Study design: A cross-sectional study was conducted to analyze a convenience sample of patients seeking treatment for cervical spine conditions.

Objective: To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a comprehensive, disease-specific questionnaire for characterizing complaints of neck pain and evaluating the outcomes of treatments for these complaints.

Summary of background data: There currently are a number of generic and disease-specific instruments for assessing complaints of neck pain. None comprehensively cover the wide range of factors considered essential in evaluating treatment outcomes.

Methods: The authors developed a comprehensive, disease-specific questionnaire for characterizing complaints of neck pain and evaluating the outcomes of treatments for these complaints. In this study, 216 patients who underwent surgery for cervical spine disorders completed the Cervical Spine Outcomes Questionnaire before treatment, then at 3 and 6 months after treatment. The data were used to evaluate the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the questionnaire.

Results: The authors have shown that the Cervical Spine Outcomes Questionnaire has high test-retest reliability, good construct validity, and responsiveness to change after treatment.

Conclusions: The Cervical Spine Outcomes Questionnaire is a comprehensive, disease-specific instrument for assessing complaints of neck pain and evaluating the outcomes of treatments for these complaints. It provides information on demographics, pain severity, functional disability, psychological distress, physical symptoms, health care utilization, and satisfaction. It appears to be acceptable to patients, easy to administer, highly reliable, valid, and responsive. It should be considered for use in monitoring patients with cervical spine conditions and in studies of cervical spine disorders and their treatments.