Short-form quality care questionnaire-palliative care has acceptable measurement properties in Brazilian cancer patients

Barthel Index is a valid and reliable tool to measure the functional independence of cancer patients in palliative care

Background

Our objective was to verify the reliability, internal consistency and construct validity of the Barthel Index in Brazilian cancer patients in palliative care.

Methods

We included patients with cancer, both sexes, and age greater than or equal to 18 years. We used to evaluate patients the Barthel Index, Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS), and European Organization for Research in the Treatment of Cancer Questionnaire-core 15 (EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL). The measurement properties evaluated in this study were test–retest and inter-rater reliability and construct validity (tested by means of correlations with other instruments).

Results

We included 220 patients for construct validity and a subsample of 27 patients for reliability analyses. We observed adequate reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient ≥ 0.962) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.942). There were adequate correlations between the Barthel Index and the KPS (rho = 0.766), and the functional capacity domain of the EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL (rho = -0.698).

Conclusion

The Brazilian version of the Barthel Index presents adequate test–retest and inter-rater reliability, acceptable internal consistency, and valid construct for measuring functional independence in cancer patients.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12904-022-01017-z.

Brazilian version of the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire does not have a well-defined internal structure in patients with chronic neck pain

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the structural validity of the Brazilian version of the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire in patients with chronic neck pain.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Community participants collected via online platform.

SUBJECTS

Participants with neck pain (minimal pain intensity of 3 points at rest on 11-point Numerical Rating Scale), both genders and aged ⩾18 years old.

MAIN MEASURE

The Numerical Rating Scale, Neck Disability Index, Pain-Related Catastrophizing Thoughts Scale, Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia and the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire were completed. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to identify dimensionality and to compare different structures of the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire.

RESULTS

We included 103 participants. The sample consisted mostly of adults (mean age = 33.64 years, standard deviation = 10.48 years), females (n = 82, 79.6%), lean, single and with higher education. The exploratory factor analysis with implementation of the parallel analysis identified the one-dimensional structure of the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire, with a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value of 0.80 and Bartlett's test significant (P < 0.05). We observed that all structures tested in this study presented a high amount of residues in confirmatory factor analysis, which were identified by the value of root mean square error of approximation > 0.08 and chi-square/degree of freedom > 3.00.

CONCLUSION

The internal structure of the Brazilian version of the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire is not clear and well-defined. It was not possible to identify the construct measured by the instrument in individuals with chronic neck pain.