Computational psychological study of the Brief Scale for Psychiatric Problems in Orthopaedic Patients (BS-POP) for patients with chronic low back pain: verification of responsiveness.

Abstract

We developed the Brief Scale for Psychiatric Problems in Orthopaedic Patients (BS-POP, physician and patient versions) and have previously shown that the BS-POP is reliable and has construct validity, criterion validity, and reproducibility. The present study aimed to proactively verify the responsiveness of the BS-POP with regard to chronic low back pain (LBP) patients. The study subjects included 193 chronic LBP patients (81 males, 112 females; mean age 62 years) who had suffered from persistent LBP for ≥3 months. During the first test (before the treatment), the BS-POP, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Profile of Mood States (POMS), the 36-item Short-form Health Survey version 2 (SF-36 v2), and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ) were conducted. The BS-POP, POMS, SF-36 v2, and RDQ for the third test were conducted (4-6 weeks after treatment) on all patients who had participated in the first test to determine the responsiveness of the BS-POP. The responsiveness of the BS-POP was investigated statistically. The total crude BS-POP scores were significantly lower for both physician and patient versions in the third test than in the first test. Moreover, the crude RDQ scores and SF-36 v2 items, physical functioning (PF), bodily pain (BP), MH, VT, and GH, and POMS items, tension-anxiety (T-A), D, F, and confusion (C) improved significantly, confirming responsiveness to treatment. The present findings indicate that the BS-POP possesses sufficient responsiveness from a computational psychology perspective. The BS-POP constitutes a tool enabling orthopaedists to easily identify psychiatric problems in orthopaedic patients.