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Fear of Movement/Injury in the General Population: Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties of an Adapted Version of the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia

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In recent years, several studies have pointed out the importance of pain-related fear in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. An important instrument for measuring pain-related fear in the context of low back pain is the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK). Recently, a version of this questionnaire has been developed for administration among the general population (TSK-G). To determine the factor structure of the TSK-G, data from a random sample of the Dutch general population were studied separately for people who had had back complaints in the previous year, and people who had been without back complaints. For both groups the TSK-G appeared to consist of one, internally consistent, factor of 12 items. The one-factor TSK-G also appeared valid after comparison with scores on measures of catastrophizing and general health status.

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Notes

  1. Cronbach's alpha of the 17-item TSK-G was .75 for the sample with low back complaints and .72 for the sample without low back complaints.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment for kindly providing the data for this study. This study was supported by Grant No. 904-59-108 of the Council for Medical and Health Research of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (MW-NWO), and by Grant No. 5214 of the National Fund for Public Mental Health.

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Correspondence to R. M. A. Houben.

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Houben, R.M.A., Leeuw, M., Vlaeyen, J.W.S. et al. Fear of Movement/Injury in the General Population: Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties of an Adapted Version of the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia. J Behav Med 28, 415–424 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-005-9011-x

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