Development, Validation and Reliability Testing of Sleep Disability Questionnaire in Individuals with Chronic Low Back Pain

Background Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is one of the most common musculoskeletal illnesses, affecting up to 80% of people at some point in their lives and making them unable to work. About 70% of people with CLBP say they have trouble sleeping, which is a big deal. Chronic pain and sleep problems are linked in complicated ways, but the instruments we use to assess them don’t always take into consideration the unique problems that people with CLBP encounter.

MethodsThe investigation will happen in two separate stages:

Phase 1 In this first step, we will create and test the Sleep Disability Questionnaire (SDQ). This method will include finding the right domains and things by talking to experts, interviewing patients, and doing extensive evaluations of the literature. We will use the Delphi approach to make sure the material is valid, and then we will do pilot testing to see how useful and effective the questionnaire is. We will use exploratory factor analysis to look at construct validity.

Phase  2 The second step will be all about checking the SDQ’s reliability and other psychometric qualities, such as internal consistency and reliability between and within raters. We will choose 51 CLBP patients who have serious sleep problems based on criteria we have already set.

ResultsThe study will use kappa statistics and indices like the Item-Level Content Validity Index (I-CVI) and the Scale-Level Content Validity Index (S-CVI) to check the content validity. We will also use normalcy tests like the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests. We will use regression analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson or Spearman correlations, Bland-Altman plots, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to check for reliability.

C****onclusionthe goal of our project is to make a new, dependable Sleep Disability Questionnaire that is specifically designed for people with CLBP and test it fully. We think that the SDQ will give researchers and doctors a better way to look at and treat sleep problems in this group of people. This will lead to better patient outcomes and a better quality of life over time.