The American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Elbow Questionnaire: cross-cultural adaptation into German and evaluation of its psychometric properties

Abstract

The purpose of this clinical measurement (longitudinal) study was to cross-culturally adapt the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons standardized elbow assessment questionnaire (pASES-e) into German (pASES-eG) and evaluate its reliability and validity. Cross-cultural adaptation of the pASES-e was performed according to international guidelines. Seventy-five patients who had undergone elbow arthroplasty, on average of 11 years previously, were assessed using the pASES-eG, the German version of the Patient-Rated Elbow Evaluation (PREE-G), the Short Form-36 (SF-36), the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH), and the clinical ASES-e to assess the construct validity of the pASES-eG. Its retest reliability was examined on 55-second assessments completed within two weeks. For reliability, the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.93 for the pASES-eG total score. Its internal consistency was 0.90 (Cronbach's alpha). The pASES-eG total score correlated excellently with the PREE-G (0.92), well with the DASH (0.73), moderate with the physical component summary (0.62), and not with the mental component summary scores of the SF-36 (0.02). The pASES-eG correlated moderately with certain clinical findings (clinical ASES-e) (0.40-0.63). The pASES-eG represents a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating self-rated outcome in German-speaking patients with elbow pathology.