Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to validate the simplified Chinese version of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Cervical Myelopathy Evaluation Questionnaire (JOACMEQ) for Chinese patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM).
Methods
The construct validity was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The convergent validity was based on factor loading, composite reliability (CR), and Pearson correlation coefficients (r). Internal consistency reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s α, test–retest reliability using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and the ceiling and floor effects were also examined.
Results
A total of 168 native Chinese-speaking patients were enrolled. The CFA indicated that construct validity did not meet the preset criteria to be considered as good. Except for Q 4-1, the factor loading was higher than the standard of 0.5, and the CR values ranged from 0.70 to 0.85. Strong to moderate correlations were found between other scales and the simplified Chinese JOACMEQ. The scale showed good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α 0.639–0.821), and test–retest reliability (ICC 0.760–0.916). Moreover, the ceiling effect was displayed from Q1 to Q4.
Conclusions
This study indicates that the simplified Chinese JOACMEQ is a reliable and valid measure of the functional status among Chinese patients with CSM.
The JOACMEQ was translated into the simplified Chinese and culturally adapted for Chinese-speaking patients with CSM for the first time.
The simplified JOACMEQ demonstrated an excellent level of internal consistency and good test–retest reliability.
The simplified Chinese JOACMEQ was reliable and valid for the measurement of the functional status among the patients with CSM.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the trustee in charge of the Clinical Outcome Committee of the Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research for the permission to translate JOACMEQ from Mamoru Kawakami.
Ethical approval
No interventional therapy or specimen collection was involved in our study, and the entire protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Longhua Hospital (No. 2016LCSY030). All subjects participating in the study were informed of the details and submitted the written informed consent.
Author contributions
All authors participated in drafting or critically revising the article for important intellectual content. In addition, all authors approved the final version. MY and ZJL contributed equally to the work and should be considered as co-first authors. XJC and YJW were the corresponding authors. Study concept and design were accomplished by XJC, YJW, MY, and ZJL. Data acquisition was conducted by MY, ZJL, BZ, BPX, SZ, YFP, XTW, ZRT, and JY. The revision was made by MY, and ZD. Data analysis and interpretation were completed by XJC, YJW, MY, and ZJL.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
All relevant data were presented in the paper and its Supplementary Material.