Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess validity and reliability for five different owner-completed instruments evaluated to assess chronic musculoskeletal pain in cats. All of the instruments were questionnaires, three asking about behavioral changes, one about the degree of pain and one about quality of life. One of the instruments was written originally in Swedish, the other four instruments were translated into Swedish before use.

Data available were records from 57 cats with no signs of pain and 11 cats with different pain-related diagnoses. The diagnoses were ensured by clinical examination including palpation and manipulation of joints, gait testing on a force-plate and X-ray scans. Instrument 1 was completed by 57 pain-free and 11 pain-affected cats. Instrument 2-4 were completed by 28 pain-free and 11 pain-affected cats, and instrument 5 was completed by 20 pain-free and 10 pain-affected cats.

Construct validity was assessed by testing the ability of the instruments to distinguish between the cats with and without pain (p<0.05). Since no data for assessing the repeatability was available, the only component of reliability assessed was internal consistency, and Cronbach’s alpha>0.7 was considered as a good internal consistency. Criterion validity was assessed by testing the correlation between the different instruments, were Spearman's ρ>0.7 was considered acceptable.

Four of the five instruments had good validity and reliability based on the criteria above. The fifth instrument had poor validity and reliability as an instrument intended to assess chronic pain for cat.

Since repeatability isn’t included in the study, an important part in judging the instruments reliability is missing. Furthermore the study didn’t include enough cats with musculoskeletal pain why the results only can be regarded as indications.