Development of a Self-report Questionnaire in the Context of Norwegian Psychomotor Physiotherapy (NPMP)

Background: Body awareness is an essential aspect that is addressed in Norwegian Psychomotor Physiotherapy (NPMP). The term is described somewhat differently in different fields. In line with this, there is uncertainty about how the phenomenon should be assessed. Purpose: This PhD thesis concerns development, reliability and validity testing of the Body Awareness Rating Questionnaire (BARQ). Methods: Three studies are included in the PhD thesis (Papers I-III). Samples of physiotherapists specializing in NPMP, patients with long-lasting musculoskeletal pain, and healthy persons participated in the study. Initially a pool of items reflecting aspects of body awareness was developed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the items demonstrated four factors which were named Function, Mood, Feelings and Awareness. Test-retest reliability of the factors (subscales) was examined by calculating relative (ICC 2,1) and absolute reliability (Sw), and construct validity by testing hypothesis using Pearson (r) or Spearman rank (rs) correlation. The ability to discriminate between patients and healthy persons was examined using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Responsiveness to important change was examined by one-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), relating change scores of BARQ subscales to the Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC) categories. Results: The three subscales Function, Feelings and Awareness, had satisfactory testretest reliability, construct and discriminative validity, while Function, and Awareness also demonstrated evaluative ability. The subscale Mood lacks evidence for satisfactory measurement properties and should be excluded from BARQ. Conclusion: Further efforts should be made to develop a better Mood subscale, as well as readjusting the subscale Feeling to improve the scale’s evaluative ability