Background: Kinesiophobia is described as fear of physical movement resulting in painful injury. Older adults with knee osteoarthritis usually suffer from joint pain. Assessment of kinesiophobia is beneficial for prevention of further deterioration in performing activity. Even though, the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-11) has been developed to briefly examine pain related to fear of movement in patients with chronic pain, the TSK-11 Thai version has not been examined for its validity and reliability yet.

Objective: To examine psychometric properties of the TSK-11 Thai version.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study with 200 older people with knee osteoarthritis living in the northeastern part of Thailand was used in the present study. Participants were asked to complete the demographic questionnaire, the TSK-11-Thai version, the numeric rating scale (NRS), and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) Thai version. To confirm the TSK-11 Thai version validity, construct validity was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to confirm the TSK-11-Thai version’s convergent validities. For internal consistency reliability, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were also assessed.

Results: The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a two-factor model, including somatic factor and activity avoidance, fitted with the data. The TSK11-Thai version was positively correlated with pain catastrophizing. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the total TSK11-Thai version was at 0.77. For subscale, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the TSK somatic factor and activity avoidance were 0.61 and 0.69, respectively.

Conclusion: The Thai version of TSK-11 has acceptable validity and reliability. The TSK-11-Thai version is suitable to use to examine pain-related fear of movement in patients with knee osteoarthritis for clinical and research purposes.

Keywords: Instrument; Knee osteoarthritis; Older people; Pain-related fear of movement; Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia-Thai version; Psychometric properties; Validation

DOI: doi.org/10.35755/jmedassocthai.2021.08.12901

Received 6 May 2021 | Revised 13 July 2021 | Accepted 16 July 2021