Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire in Chronic Low Back Pain (Frebaq-I): Translation and Validation in the Indian Population

BACKGROUND: The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) has been found to possess adequate psychometric properties in low back pain (LBP) patients worldwide. The aim of this study was to translate the questionnaire into a classical Indian language (Odiya) and validate in the Indian population (FreBAQ-I). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The English edition of the FreBAQ was transformed into Indian classical language (Odiya). One hundred adult patients with chronic LBP were recruited for psychometric evaluation using Rasch analysis. Demographic parameters, clinical characteristics like pain, Oswestry Disability Index, and Beck's depression inventory were assessed along with responses to the study questionnaire. RESULTS: The FreBAQ-I correlated well with intensity of pain (r = −0.19, P = 0.04), duration of the LBP (r = 0.35, P < 0.001), depression score (r = 0.25, P = 0.012), but not statitistically with disability (r = 0.06, P = 0.49). The fit statistics was neither excessively positive nor negative, and the average agreeability measure of the study participants progressed as presumed across the different categories. Internal consistency of the FreBAQ-I version was found to be good with a person reliability of 0.54 and Cronbach's alpha of 0.91. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with greater disturbed body perception are addressed adequately by the questionnaire. All nine items are essential and adequate, which makes the survey complete, although item 2 was found to be endorsed more often. Overall, the FreBAQ-I has suitable psychometric properties in Indian populations with chronic LBP.