Development and validation of Fibromyalgia Knowledge Questionnaire: FKQ

Area of Science:

• Rheumatology
• Health Sciences
• Patient Education

Background:

• Fibromyalgia is a complex chronic condition requiring comprehensive patient understanding.
• Existing tools may not adequately assess specific patient knowledge of fibromyalgia.
• Effective patient education is crucial for managing fibromyalgia symptoms and improving quality of life.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a questionnaire to evaluate patients' specific knowledge of fibromyalgia.
• To establish the reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change of the new instrument.

Main Methods:

• Focus groups with healthcare professionals and fibromyalgia patients informed questionnaire development.
• Reproducibility was assessed via intra- and inter-observer reliability tests.
• Construct validity and sensitivity to change were evaluated using healthcare professionals, patients, and an educational intervention.

Main Results:

• The final questionnaire comprised 18 items, with over 90% participant understanding.
• Excellent intra- and inter-observer reproducibility was demonstrated (ICC: 0.86–0.96 and 0.65–0.90, respectively).
• The questionnaire showed significant construct validity and sensitivity to change following an educational program.

Conclusions:

• The Fibromyalgia Knowledge Questionnaire is a reliable, valid, and sensitive instrument.
• This tool effectively evaluates disease-specific knowledge in patients with fibromyalgia.
• The questionnaire can be utilized to assess the impact of educational interventions on patient knowledge.