Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Reliability, and Validity of the Chinese Version of the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia-11 Among Patients Who Have Undergone Total Knee Arthroplasty

The shortened version of the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11) has been well characterized in the literature. However, to the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have evaluated the reliability and validity of the TSK-11 for Chinese-speaking patients who have undergone total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Thus, the objectives of this study were to translate and adapt the TSK-11 cross-culturally into Chinese and to evaluate its reliability and validity in a sample of Chinese TKA patients.

The TSK-11 was translated and cross-culturally adapted into Chinese according to the international guidelines for the cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures. The Chinese version of TSK-11 was administered to 254 patients following their TKA, along with the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Numerical Rating Scale, and 12-Item Short Form Health Survey. Psychometric testing included internal consistency, test-retest reliability, floor and ceiling effects, construct validity, and convergent validity.

A high completion rate of 95.8% with no floor or ceiling effects was noted in the Chinese version of the TSK-11. The questionnaire also showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.883) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.798). Construct validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis, and 3 factors were extracted that accounted for 65.2% of the variance. Convergent validity was confirmed by significant Pearson correlations between the Chinese version of the TSK-11 and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale ( r = 0.751), Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire ( r = 0.719) and VAS ( r = 0.450), as well as the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey subdomains Bodily Pain ( r = −0.391), Mental Health ( r = −0.356), Physical Functioning ( r = −0.339), Role-Emotional ( r = −0.317), and Role-Physical ( r = −0.277).

The Chinese version of the TSK-11 demonstrated satisfactory acceptability, reliability, and validity; therefore, it can be used in clinical practice and research for assessing kinesiophobia in Chinese patients after TKA.