What do people with chronic pain think about when they answer the TSK?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative study into factors which influence chronic pain patients’ responses to the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) using a ‘thinking out loud’ approach.
IRAS ID
183911
Contact name
Lorna Semple
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHSGGC
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Title - What do people with chronic pain think about when they answer the TSK (Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia)?
The TSK is widely used within clinical practice as a tool for measuring how fearful people are of movement and activity. It is a 13 item questionnaire and we have noticed clinically that patients often question the relevance and meaning of many of these items. We want to explore what people think about when answering the questions and the conclusions that they reach. The questionnaire has been demonstrated to be scientifically valid but is it clinically valid?
The TSK will be reviewed within the chronic pain population as that is an area where it is widely used both clinically and within research.
A sample of 20 people will be recruited from people who attend the Glasgow Pain Management Programme (PMP). This is a convenience sample but also all attendees have attended Pain Clinic Services and have been fully investigated in order to exclude other pathology.
Patients will be invited to participate within the study while they are attending the PMP. If they wish to take part in the study then a time to carry out the interview will be arranged which coincides with their routine attendance at the programme.
The study will last until 20 participants have been recruited. Participants will be asked to attend for an interview which will last approximately 30 minutes. The process of 'thinking outloud' will be explained to them and they will be able to practice with a mock questionnaire. Once they feel comfortable with the process of 'thinking outloud' then the interview and recording will begin. This will involve the researcher reading outloud each item of the questionnaire and the participant thinking aloud their reasoning for each question.
Interviews will be transcribed and then thematically analysed.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/2186
Date of REC Opinion
21 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion