Translation, Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Reliability, and Validity of the Tamil Version of Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire in Chronic Low Back Pain

Background: Excessive fear of movement, restricted physical activity, and cognitive distortions are frequently found with chronic low back pain (CLBP) subjects. The Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) is the most well-founded often used tool to measure avoidance beliefs in CLBP In India, there a diversity culture, educational level, language. So, need translate FABQ into regional language Tamil, which will improve understanding reduce barrier Tamil population. Objective: To translate, cross-cultural adapt, investigate psychometric properties version Materials & Methods: standard translation adaptation guideline was FABQ. subjects referred rehabilitation program an outpatient clinic took part this study. They completed FABQ-Tamil questionnaire [includes subscales for Physical Activity (FABQ-PA) Work (FABQ-W)], rating visual analog scale Roland- Morris Disability (RMDQ)-Tamil version, on two occasions five days apart. Test-retest reliability, internal consistency validity were evaluated. Results: Fifty participated mean age 39.94 (± 15.55) years. Convergent analysis displayed moderate correlation between FABQ-PA VAS (r = 0.63); FABQ-W 0.64). Divergent demonstrated RMDQ 0.69) good 0.85). test-retest reliability high; intra-class coefficients ICC-0.90 0.94, respectively. Cronbach's alpha 0.87 0.92, demonstrating high consistency. Conclusion: findings study that reliable valid fear-avoidance Tamil-speaking subject.