Subjective health measure used on Chinese patients with neck pain in Hong Kong

Study Design. A prospective observational study was conducted on the use of the Chinese version of the North wick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire. Objective. To examine the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Chinese version of the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire in Chinese pa tients with neck pain in Hong Kong. Summary of Background Data. There is increasing recognition that patient pe rspectives are essential both in making medical decisions and in judging th e treatment outcomes, A valid Chinese version of a neck disability index qu estionnaire is urgently needed for effective and reliable evaluation of the treatment outcomes for patients with neck pain. Methods. Two samples with 532 consecutive adult patients with neck pain fro m seven physiotherapy outpatient departments in Hong Kong who completed the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire were observed and measured at diffe rent intervals: at the beginning of physiotherapy, at 7 days, at 3 weeks, a nd 6 weeks after physiotherapy. Results. The questionnaire had good content validity, very good test-retest reliability, and internal consistency (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.95; Cronbach's alpha, 0.87.) It also had good validity (Spearman correla tion coefficient of 0.59 when the score was correlated with that of a gener ic 42-item Chinese health questionnaire) and good responsiveness (effect si ze of 1.11 at week 6 after treatment began). Conclusions. The Chinese version of the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionna ire has been shown to demonstrate very good content validity, a high degree of test-retest reliability, and internal consistency. It also exhibited go od construct validity and high sensitivity to changes in severity over time .