The validity and reliability of Turkish adaptation of the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire in patients with neck pain

OBJECTIVE: “Fear-avoidance behavior” means that the individual avoids a specific activity or movement due to the perception that it may cause injury. Fear of movement associated with pain can reduce individuals’ adaptation to exercise programs. This situation may cause individuals to refrain from taking action and increase the existing limitation. Our aim is investigating of Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) in patients with neck pain and creating a questionnaire option for clinicians and researchers to evaluate the fear-avoidance behavior in neck pain in Turkish. METHODS: The sample of the research was comprised 175 patients between the ages of 18–65, who have a complaint of neck pain that lasted for at least 3 months. The test was applied on patients with neck pain and no treatment, with an interval of 2–7 days. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI), and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) were applied on the participants to evaluate the validity of the FABQ. RESULTS: Accordingly, between FABQ and NHP (r=0.227), pain (NHPP) (r=0.214), emotional reactions (r=0.220), and physical activity (NHPPA) (r=0.243), a weak relationship was observed. A weak correlation was observed between physical activity (FABQ-PA) which are subscales of the FABQ questionnaire and NDI (r=0.210), NHPP (r=0.205), and NHPPA (r=0.267). CONCLUSION: FABQ is a valid and reliable tool for patients with neck pain. In our study, a weak relationship was detected between FABQ, NDI, and NHP, as like VAS.