Walton DM, Nazari G, Bobos P, MacDermid JC. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the new region-generic version of Fremantle Body Awareness-General Questionnaire.
PLoS One 2023;
18:e0282957. [PMID:
36947566 PMCID:
PMC10032497 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0282957]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
As the field of pain evaluation grows, newer and more targeted tools are being published for patient-centric evaluation of specific aspects of the pain experience. The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) is intended to capture alterations in bodily awareness or perception. To date only region-specific (back, neck, shoulder, knee) versions have been published.
OBJECTIVES
The purpose of our study was to report on the properties of a new region-generic version of the FreBAQ, the FreBAQ-general. Structural validity, internal consistency, and convergent validity against external criteria were evaluated in a sample of Canadian military veterans with chronic pain, with results compared against those published for the region-specific FreBAQ versions.
METHODS
Eligible participants were those that had prior military service, were at least 18 years of age and self-identified as having chronic pain. We used a split-sample approach to Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on independent random samples. Factor structure, internal consistency, and associations with external criteria were used to compare against prior versions.
RESULTS
328 respondents (74% of consented) completed at least 7 of the 9 FreBAQ-general questions. EFA and CFA on two independent samples offered support for both 6- and 7-item versions. Comparisons against the external criteria (pain severity, interference, catastrophizing) indicated no statistical superiority of one over the other, so in the interest of parsimony the 6-item FreBAQ-general was endorsed.
CONCLUSIONS
The Fremantle Body Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ-general) showed psychometric properties very much in alignment with those previously reported for the region-specific versions, and sound factorial validity accomplished with fewer items (6 vs. 9). We believe this version can be implemented in practice for those seeking a shorter scale without the need to have multiple region-specific versions on hand, though suggest that those seeking direct comparability with previously published work will still wish to use the original versions.
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