Development and content validity of the musculoskeletal self-management questionnaire (MSK-SMQ)

Self-management is recommended for managing persistent musculoskeletal conditions. In self-management, standardized and validated measurements (e.g., questionnaires) should be used. However, there is no general questionnaire to evaluate the level of self-management in people with persistent musculoskeletal conditions.

To develop a generic questionnaire to evaluate the level of self-management and self-management skills in people with persistent musculoskeletal conditions.

Measurement properties study focused on the development and content validity of the Musculoskeletal Self-Management Questionnaire (MSK-SMQ).

The MSK-SMQ was developed, consisting of 24 questions. To assess the content validity of the MSK-SMQ, three panels (patients, professionals, researchers/academics) were used. The relevance, clarity and essentiality of each question was evaluated. Moreover, specific feedback could be provided. The Content Validity Index (CVI) was used to test content validity (Item-CV [I-CVI]) and the Scale-level-CVI [S-CVI]). The CVI was calculated for both relevance and clarity. The essentiality of each item was measured with the content validity ratio (CVR).

91 people participated in this study. The overall content validity (relevance) was excellent, with an S-CVI of 0.96. Overall clarity was also excellent, with a score of 0.97. The range of the I-CVI for relevance was 0.91-1.00 and the range for clarity was 0.93-1.00. The mean CVR value was 0.51 and ranged from 0.14 to 0.87.

The content validity of the questionnaire was found to be excellent. The study resulted in a revised version of the MSK-SMQ, which can be used in future research to determine further psychometric properties.