Pain-Related Fear: A Critical Review of the Related Measures

Table 1

A simplified summary of the criteria for assessing the levels of reliability, validity, and responsiveness adjusted after Wind et al. [21].

Reliability	Ways to measure	Criteria	Level
Stability over time; (i) test-retest	Pearson product moment correlation coefficient	Low^a
	Spearman correlation coefficient	Low^a
	Percentage of agreement %	High	% > 0.90 and the raters can choose from more than two score levels
		Moderate	% > 0.90 and the raters can choose from between two score levels
		Low	The raters can choose only between two score levels
	Kappa value	High	κ > 0.60
		Moderate	0.41 < κ < 0.60
		Low	κ < 0.60
	Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)	High	ICC > 0.90
		Moderate	ICC 0.75–0.90
		Low	ICC < 0.75
Internal consistency	Cronbach’s alpha	High	α > 0.80
		Moderate	0.71 < α < 0.80
		Low	α > 0.70
	Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)	High	ICC > 0.90
		Moderate	ICC 0.75–0.90
		Low	ICC < 0.75
VALIDITY Content/Face		High	The test measures what it is intended to measure and all relevant components are included
		Moderate	The test measures what it is intended to measure but not all relevant components are included
		Low	The test does not measure what it is intended to measure
Criterion-related; (i) concurrent; (ii) predictive		High	Substantial similarity between the test and the criterion measure (with documented high reliability and validity)
			(PA ≥ 90%; κ > 0.60; 𝑟≥0.75)
		Moderate	Some similarity between the test and the criterion measure
			(PA ≥ 70%; κ ≥ 0.40; 𝑟≥0.50)
		Low	Little or no similarity between the test and the criterion measure (PA < 70%; κ < 0.40; 𝑟<0.50)
Construct; (i) convergent; (ii) divergent		High	Good ability to differentiate between groups or interventions, or good convergence/divergence between similar tests (r > 0.95^b)
		Moderate	Moderate ability to differentiate between groups or interventions, or moderate convergence/divergence between similar tests (0.85 < r ≤ 0.95^b)
		Low	Poor ability to differentiate between groups or interventions, or weak convergence/divergence between similar tests (r ≤ 0.85^b)
Responsiveness	Effect size	High	r ^c, SMR^d≥ 0.80
		Moderate	0.40 < r ^c, SMR^d< 0.80
		Low	r ^c, SMR^d< 0.40
	Area under ROC-curve (AUC)	High	AUC > 0.75
		Moderate	0.5 ≤ AUC ≤ 0.75
		Low	AUC < 0.5

^aAccording to Grotle et al. [27] ^bThe correlations are between two random variables, therefore the criteria are higher compared to those chosen by Wind et al. The original limit of 𝑟=0.50 gives an explained variation of less than 13%; 𝑟=0.85 implies that 53% of the variation of the variable at one time point is explained by knowing the other time point, and 𝑟=0.95 implies an explained variation of 69%. Formula for calculation; Var(𝑌∣𝑥)=(1−𝜌²)𝜎^2𝑌, where both 𝑋 and 𝑌 are random variables see also p. 484 in [28]. ^cEffect size according to Wind et al. [21] Correlation (pearson) between test results preoperative and postoperative, and also pretreatment and posttreatment. ^dCohen’s effect size. Criteria limits defined according to Grotle et al. [27].