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Development and validation of a military fear avoidance questionnaire
Carly Cooper1, Bruce Frey2, Charles Day3
1Brooke Army Medical Center, Department of Occupational Therapy, US Army, Fort Sam Houston, TX, United States.
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences
|October 20, 2022
Summary
A new military-specific questionnaire, the Return to Duty Readiness Questionnaire (RDRQ), effectively screens for fear avoidance in soldiers with chronic pain. This tool supports multidimensional pain management and readiness in the U.S. Army.
Area of Science:
- Musculoskeletal injury
- Pain neuroscience
- Military health
Background:
- Chronic pain from musculoskeletal injuries significantly impacts U.S. Army readiness and soldier well-being.
- Current pain management approaches often fail to address the multifaceted nature of pain-related disability.
- The Fear Avoidance Model (FAM) offers a promising framework for understanding and managing chronic pain from a multidimensional perspective.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a military-specific questionnaire to assess fear avoidance in U.S. Army personnel.
- To create a screening tool tailored to the unique demands of the military environment.
- To enhance the management of pain-related disability and improve return-to-duty readiness.
Main Methods:
- Development and validation of the Return to Duty Readiness Questionnaire (RDRQ) for U.S. Army soldiers.
- Psychometric evaluation including reliability (internal consistency) and concurrent validity testing.
- Comparison of RDRQ scores with the established Fear Avoidance Components Scale (FACS).
Main Results:
- The RDRQ demonstrated high internal consistency in both pilot (α=0.96) and validation (α=0.94, ωt=0.94) studies.
- Strong concurrent validity was indicated by a correlation coefficient of 0.74 with the FACS.
- The questionnaire exhibits good psychometric properties for assessing fear avoidance in a military context.
Conclusions:
- The Return to Duty Readiness Questionnaire (RDRQ) is a reliable and valid tool for screening fear avoidance in U.S. Army soldiers.
- This military-specific instrument supports a multidimensional pain neuroscience approach to managing pain-related disability.
- Further research is recommended to establish RDRQ's responsiveness, test-retest reliability, and clinical utility.
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