Adaptation and validation of the French version of the Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES) in people with chronic low back pain

Objective Cultural adaptation and validation of the French version of Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES) for people with chronic low back pain, which is a self-assessment questionnaire, composed of 20 items divided in 3 domains: pain control, function and other symptoms. Each item is assessed on a Likert scale from 0 to 10. Material/Patients and methods The adaptation of the French version of ASES in chronic low back pain population was performed following international guidelines. A prospective validation with patients with chronic low back pain was done using 4 followings questionnaires completed by patients at D1, D21, M3 and M6 including ASES, Oswestry Disability Index (disability), Fear Avoidance Belief Questionnaire (beliefs) and VAS (pain). The retest was performed between the D21 questionnaire and the M3 one. Results The French version of the ASES adapted to chronic low back pain population was completed by 77 patients. At the inclusion the mean age was 68.3 years old, the sex ratio (proportion of female) was 0.69, the disability score was 43.5 and the fear avoidance score was 18.3. The ASES total mean value was 149.4 (pain = 33.2; function = 71.0; other symptoms = 45.2). Regarding internal consistency, the Cronbach coefficient was 0.94. For the test-retest reproducibility, Linu0027s concordance coefficient was 0.75. The external validity was also explored with correlations found at −0.65 between ASES and Oswestry with a stronger correlation for the function subscale. ASES was not correlated with FABQ. The sensitivity to change was also explored after three weeks of spa-treatment (D1 to D21): ASES total was sensitive to change ( P  = 0.004) as well as its subscales’ pain control ( P  = 0.026) and other symptoms ( P  = 0.003) but not for function subscale ( P  = 0.09). Discussion/Conclusion The French ASES adapted for people with low back pain presents good psychometrics properties and could help researchers and physicians to manage patients with chronic low back pain. A complementary prospective study should assess sensitivity to change in a larger patient sample.