FRI0458 Construction and validation of the belgian ra disability assessment (BRADA) questionnaire for evaluating activity limitations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: X. Janssens, S. Decuman, F. De Keyser
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2012)

<h3>Objectives</h3> To describe the construction, reliability and validity of the Belgian Rheumatoid arthritis Disability Assessment (BRADA) questionnaire to evaluate activity limitations in patients with RA. <h3>Methods</h3> In the Belgian social security system people with RA can benefit from a range of supporting measures. The need for access to these measures is evaluated by a scale that assesses the activity limitations in daily life by scoring 6 functional domains (mobility, nutrition, self-care, household tasks, awareness of danger and communication). The BRADA scale assesses the same domains and is developed to improve the reliability and validity of the existing scale. The BRADA scale builds on the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and incorporates elements from the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core set for RA (1-4). The questionnaire assesses functioning over the past week and over the past 3 months. Face and content validity of the BRADA questionnaire were evaluated by expert review. The reliability and validity were evaluated in a population of 67 RA patients who filled out the BRADA questionnaire, the HAQ and the Medical Outcome Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36), on two occasions 4 weeks apart (T0 and T1). Additionally the DAS28 was calculated. Test-retest reliability was assessed by intra-class correlation coefficients. Construct validity was evaluated by comparing the scores of the HAQ/SF-36 and BRADA functional domain subscales using Spearman's Rho correlation coefficient. <h3>Results</h3> Internal consistency of the composing elements proved adequate for all domains (Crohnbach's α at T0: 0.87-0.93; at T1: 0.84-0.92) and the questionnaire showed good test-retest reliability (depending on how the total score of the BRADA was calculated: ICC values of 0.66-0.78 and 0.66-0.79 for evaluation over the last week and last 3 months, respectively). BRADA scores showed excellent correlation with other validated measures of functioning in RA (HAQ: ρ 0.91-0.94, p&lt;0.001 and SF-36: ρ -0.59 to -0.60, p&lt;0.001). The BRADA scores correlated significantly with the disease activity parameters VAS (ρ 0.48-0.53, p&lt;0.001) and DAS28 (ρ 0.28-0.33, p&lt;0.001). <h3>Conclusions</h3> The BRADA questionnaire has good psychometric properties and is suitable for further evaluation and use in patients with RA. <h3>References</h3> Stucki G, Cieza A. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for rheumatoid arthritis: a way to specify functioning. Ann Rheum Dis 2004 November;63 Suppl 2:ii40-ii45. Stamm TA, Cieza A, Coenen M et al. Validating the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Comprehensive Core Set for Rheumatoid Arthritis from the patient perspective: a qualitative study. Arthritis Rheum 2005 June 15;53(3):431-9. Kirchberger I, Glaessel A, Stucki G, Cieza A. Validation of the comprehensive international classification of functioning, disability and health core set for rheumatoid arthritis: the perspective of physical therapists. Phys Ther 2007 April;87(4):368-84. Uhlig T, Lillemo S, Moe RH et al. Reliability of the ICF Core Set for rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 2007 August;66(8):1078-84. <h3>Disclosure of Interest</h3> None Declared