Reliability and aspects of validity of the Swedish version of self-efficacy for exercise scale for patients with chronic pain

• Published in: Physiotherapy theory and practice Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 163 - 173
• Main Authors: Dahlbäck, Angelica, Andréll, Paulin, Varkey, Emma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis Ltd 2023
• Subjects: Chronic pain; Clinical outcomes; Construct validity; cosmin; definitions; disability; Exercise; fear; health; Health care; Health Sciences; Hälsovetenskaper; low-back-pain; Measurement; Medical personnel; neck; pain; Patients; people; physical-activity; physiotherapy; quality; Rehabilitation; reliability; Self-efficacy; Test-Retest reliability; Validation studies; Validity; pain; Exercise; validity; physiotherapy; reliability; self-efficacy
• ISSN: 0959-3985; 1532-5040
• DOI: 10.1080/09593985.2021.1999356

Active, specific, and professionally led physical exercise is an effective treatment for chronic pain, and self-efficacy is correlated to positive treatment outcomes. At present, there is limited knowledge of self-efficacy for exercise in patients with chronic pain.
To evaluate the reliability and aspects of validity of the Swedish version of the Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale (SEE-SV) in patients with chronic pain.
Patients with chronic pain were recruited from a specialist clinic. The Swedish version of the SEE was used. Reliability was evaluated through internal consistency, test-retest, and measurement error (standard error of measurement, SEM and smallest detectable change, SDC). Construct validity was calculated using the correlation between the SEE-SV and other well-established evaluation instruments. Content validity was evaluated both from a patient and a health-care professional perspective.
In total, 44 patients, 31 women and 13 men (mean age 40 years), participated in the study. The SEE-SV had good test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.95) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.97). Regarding measurement error, SEM was 4.9 and SDC 13.5. Moderate correlation was seen between SEE-SV and a pain-specific self-efficacy questionnaire (rs = 0.52). The majority of patients and health-care professionals considered the SEE-SV to be relevant and easy to understand.
The SEE-SV showed a good internal consistency, item-to-total correlation, and test-retest reliability (ICC). A relatively high SDC indicates an individual variability of the test results. The content validity was satisfactory. Regarding the construct validity, further studies are needed.