THE ARTHRITIS KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONNAIRE - A TEST FOR MEASURING PATIENT KNOWLEDGE OF ARTHRITIS AND ITS SELF-MANAGEMENT

Objective. To develop a questionnaire for measuring patients' knowledge about arthritis and its selfmanagement, Methods. An initial item pool of 175 multiple-choice questions was developed, based on the Stanford Arthritis Self-Management Program and on basic medical knowledge about arthritis and its management, A rheumatologist, psychologist, physiotherapist, and several lay individuals assessed the questions for content validity, breadth of coverage, and face validity, Patients assessed the questions for comprehensibility. Four subject groups with varying knowledge levels were recruited to answer the entire set of questions, Item analysis was undertaken to develop parallel forms of subtests so that repeated assessments could be undertaken. Results. The final instrument, the Arthritis Knowledge Questionnaire, consists of 2 tests, each comprising 3 subtests: self-management (15 items), arthritis in general (15 items), and rheumatoid arthritis (11 items). Conclusion. We present psychometric evidence that these parallel forms provide highly reliable and valid estimates of knowledge concerning arthritis and arthritis self-management.