Background: The initial purpose of this study was to perform a linguistic and cultural translation of the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists into the Turkish language. Following the translation process the primary purpose of the study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists.
Materials and methods: A survey study design was used. The Turkish version of Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists was developed. A pilot test was performed and a final version was completed. Participants were recruited to examine the reliability and validity of the new instrument. Participants received an online survey package with the PABS-PT-TR and Turkish Version of the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia.
Results: A total of 51 physiotherapists (response rate 60.7%) completed the PABS-PT-TR and Turkish Version of the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia and 28 physiotherapists completed the retest. Factor analysis was conducted to determine the construct of the scale. Two factors emerged: one focused on biomedical orientation and the second on biopsychosocial orientation. The test-retest reliability (ICC) for the biomedical scale was 0.81 (95% CI = 0.60-0.91) and 0.82 (95% CI = 0.61-0.91) for the biopsychosocial scale. Internal consistency for the "biomedical" scale was Cronbach's α = 0.72 and α = 0.59 for the biopsychosocial scale. When the relationship between PABS-PT-TR and TSK was investigated, r value was 0.39 (p < 0.05) indicating fair convergent validity. These results indicated that the PABS-PT-TR shows construct validity.
Conclusion: The PABS-PT-TR appears to have good test-retest reliability, acceptable to good internal consistency, and acceptable construct validity.
Keywords: Attitudes; PABS-PT; Turkish; beliefs; pain; physiotherapists.