Measurement properties for the revised patient-reported OsteoArthritis Quality Indicator questionnaire

Area of Science:

• Rheumatology
• Health Services Research
• Patient-Reported Outcomes

Background:

• Osteoarthritis (OA) significantly impacts patient quality of life.
• Accurate assessment of OA care quality is crucial for improving patient outcomes.
• Existing quality indicators require validation for reliability and responsiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity, reliability, responsiveness, and interpretability of the Osteoarthritis Quality Indicator (OA-QI) questionnaire version 2 (v2).
• To determine if OA-QI v2 is a suitable tool for measuring patient-reported quality of osteoarthritis care.

Main Methods:

• A longitudinal cohort study involving patients attending an OA education program.
• The OA-QI v2 was administered at four time points: pre-program (two weeks prior, immediately prior), immediately post-program, and three months post-program.
• Test-retest reliability, construct validity, responsiveness, and interpretability (including smallest detectable change and minimal important change) were assessed.

Main Results:

• High test-retest reliability was observed (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.89).
• Construct validity was confirmed, with all six predefined hypotheses met.
• Responsiveness was acceptable, with most predefined hypotheses confirmed.
• No floor or ceiling effects were detected. Smallest detectable change (SDC95%) was 29.1 (individual) and 3.0 (group); minimal important change (MIC) was 20.4.

Conclusions:

• The OA-QI v2 exhibits superior reliability and acceptable validity compared to version 1.
• The questionnaire demonstrates good responsiveness, supporting its use as an outcome measure in OA care improvement studies.
• OA-QI v2 is recommended for future research and clinical application in assessing osteoarthritis patient care quality.