What are the basic dimensions of respiration? A psychometric evaluation of The Comprehensive Body Examination. II.

Abstract

There has been a lack of psychometrically sound scales for physiotherapeutic body examinations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the respiration items of the Comprehensive Body Examination (CBE). Ninety-nine persons were examined: 17 pain syndrome patients (PSP group), 27 psychotic patients (PP group), 4 non-psychotic patients (NPP group), and a comparison group consisting of 51 students and staff (SS group). On the basis of factor analysis five respiration subscales were made: 1) Changeability (C) with five items; 2) Movements Supine (MS) with five items; 3) Tension (T) with six items; 4) Movements Upright (MU) with three items; and 5) Position of the Thorax (PT) with four items. The subscales were weakly intercorrelated and showed high internal consistency (Chronbach's alpha, 0.71-0.84). The C subscale proved to distinguish significantly between the SS and both the PSP and the PP group; the MS subscale distinguished between the SS group and the PP group, and the T subscale distinguished between the SS group and the PSP group. These three subscales distinguished significantly between patient groups and controls, even when we controlled for use of medication. The MU and PT subscales did not distinguish between groups. The results indicate that the respiration items form five clinically meaningful subscales with satisfactory psychometric properties.