Non-Adherence with Physiotherapeutic Rehabilitation-A Cross-Cultural Adaption of Compliance Parameters into German

Background: Compliance with rehabilitative physiotherapeutic measures leads to an improvement in outcomes in patients suffering from a variety of musculoskeletal conditions. To date, a tool for assessing the parameters that lead to non-adherence to physical therapy does not exist in the German language. The objective of this paper is to cross-culturally adapt a non-compliance questionnaire to German. Methods: In reference to the Guidelines for the Process of Cross-Cultural Adaption of Self-Reported Measures, the questionnaire was translated into German followed by a back-translation into the original language. An expert committee met and refined the pre-final version. A preliminary version was handed out to patients for evaluation of the quality of the resulting German version. Results: After the forward- and back-translation of the questionnaire, some discrepancies were discovered between the translators on the one hand and between the back-translations and the original document on the other. The statistical analysis showed satisfactory results regarding the quality of the questionnaire. Conclusion: The translation and adaption of the items proved to have a high degree of reliability. The German version will be made available for German-speaking researchers and used for evaluating a mobile-application-based physical therapy regimen by the authors of the paper.

Automated summary

The objective of this study was to cross-culturally adapt a non-compliance questionnaire into German. The questionnaire was translated, back-translated, and refined by an expert committee, resulting in the German version. The quality of the questionnaire was satisfactory according to statistical analysis. The German version will be made available for researchers and used for evaluating a mobile-application-based physical therapy regimen.