Italian version of the Bournemouth Questionnaire for Low Back Pain: translation, cultural adaptation and validation

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is a very common disease that leads to many disabilities; it affects 75-85% individuals at some point in their lives. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the Bournemouth Questionnaire for Low Back Pain (BQ) into the Italian language and to verify the validity and reliability of this version. METHODS: International guidelines were followed. Eighty-three participants with low back pain were recruited among the Italian population between 18-65 years old. Cronbach’s α was calculated to assess the internal consistency and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was calculated to estimate the stability. In addition, Bland-Altman plot was used to estimate reliability. The BQ was administered together with the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) and the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ): with the Pearson’s correlation coefficient was evaluated the construct validity. The construct validity has been analyzed also with factorial analysis. RESULTS: All the items were similar in meaning to the originals. The scale was administered twice to 22 participants with a re-test after 48 hours. Cronbach’s α was 0.793 and the ICC ranges between 0.80-0.97. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed significant correlations (P<0.01) between BQ and SF-36, RMDQ items. CONCLUSIONS: The study produced an Italian version of the BQ with good reliability and construct validity. This scale can be considered a good tool for the multidimensional evaluation of the LBP. The questionnaire is really short, intuitive and easy-to-apply: it is really useful both for clinical practice and research.