Reliability, Measurement Error, Responsiveness, and Minimal Important Change of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale 2.0 for Patients With Nonspecific Neck Pain.
Erik Thoomes, Joshua A Cleland, Deborah Falla and 2 others
PMID 37606246WHAT IT FOUND
For patients with nonspecific neck pain, the PSFS 2.0 is a reliable and responsive measure.
A change of 2.67 points on the 0-10 scale indicates important improvement, distinguishing real progress from measurement error.
Key findings
01The test-retest reliability was high with an ICC of 0.95.
02The minimal important change was 2.67 points, which is higher than the smallest detectable change of 1.10.
03The scale showed satisfactory responsiveness with an AUC of 0.82.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study focused exclusively on patients with nonspecific neck pain, so these measurement properties may not apply to other musculoskeletal conditions. A small floor effect was noted at the 12-week follow-up, where 30.5% of patients reported being completely recovered, potentially limiting the scale's ability to discriminate among patients who have fully recovered. The order of questionnaire items was fixed due to software limitations, which could theoretically influence responses, although the authors argue this is unlikely to have caused bias.
Declared interests
No funding was received for this work.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the PSFS 2.0 has the same measurement properties for other conditions like low back pain or shoulder pain; these values are specific to nonspecific neck pain.