Body Awareness Rating Questionnaire – Development of a self-administered questionnaire for patients with long-lasting musculoskeletal and psychosomatic disorders

Abstract

Body awareness is an essential focus when physiotherapists treat patients with musculoskeletal and psychosomatic disorders and is important in such treatment as Norwegian Psychomotor Physiotherapy (NPMP). The purpose of this study was to develop a self-administered questionnaire to capture body awareness as defined within NPMP. A pool of 66 items reflecting aspects of body awareness was developed based on suggestions from NPMP specialists and patients. A sample of 300 persons scored each item on a 7-point Likert scale. Internal consistency was examined by Cronbach's α test, and by exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The α test resulted in a reduction of 21 items. EFA of the remaining 45 items demonstrated four factors that were named Function, Mood, Feelings and Awareness. Six items with the highest loadings within each of the sub-scales were maintained, leading to a 24-item questionnaire called the Body Awareness Rating Questionnaire (BARQ). Unidimensionality was satisfactory for the whole questionnaire (α=0.78) as well as for the sub-scales. Evidence for satisfactory internal consistency of BARQ was demonstrated but measurement properties like construct validity and reliability should also be demonstrated before BARQ can be recommended for clinical use.

Key words::

• Body awareness
• measurement
• psychosomatic disorders

Acknowledgement

The authors are very grateful to the physiotherapists at Strandgaten Physiotherapy and The Outpatient Spine Clinic at Haukeland University Hospital, and will especially thank Heidi Ann Fiske and Bodil Anderson for their assistance in recruiting patients, and be part of the specialist team. We also wish to thank the participants in the study. Special thanks to Associate Professor Tom Backer Johnsen and Professor, Ph.D., Ståle Pallesen for advice in the statistical analysis. The study was supported by the Norwegian Fund for Postgraduate Training in Physiotherapy.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.