ASSESSING FUNCTIONAL DISABILITY AND HEALTH-STATUS OF WOMEN WITH FIBROMYALGIA - VALIDATION OF A HEBREW VERSION OF THE FIBROMYALGIA IMPACT QUESTIONNAIRE

Objective. To validate a translated version of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) to be used by Hebrew speaking populations. Method s. We administered the FIQ to 100 women with fibromyalgia (FM). The FI Q measures physical functioning, work status, depression, anxiety, sle ep, pain, stiffness, fatigue, and well being. All patients were asked about the presence and severity (assessed by visual analog scale) of r elevant FM symptoms (pain, fatigue, anxiety, etc.); a count of 18 tend er points was conducted by thumb palpation, and tenderness thresholds were assessed by dolorimetry. Test-retest reliability was assessed usi ng Spearman correlations. Internal consistency was evaluated with Cron bach's alpha coefficient of reliability. To assess content validity a cutoff criterion of greater than or equal to 25% impairment responses was set to indicate a valid item. Construct validity of the FIQ was ev aluated by correlating the physical functioning score as well as the s eparate items with measures of symptom severity, count of tender point s, and tenderness thresholds. Results. Test-retest reliability was r = 0.96 for physical functioning, and 0.80-0.96 for other items of the F IQ. Internal consistency was alpha = 0.93 at Time 1 and 0.86 at Time 2 . Seventeen of 19 items of the FIQ met the greater than or equal to 25 % criterion. Significant moderate to high correlations were obtained b etween the FIQ items and severity symptoms, point count, and tendernes s threshold. Conclusion. The FIQ is a reliable and valid instrument fo r measuring functional disability and health status in Israeli women w ith FM.