Self-Report Population: Adult Difficulty: Easy (5min) Cost: Free Use: Kinesiophobia
DESCRIPTION: the TSK is a 17 item self-report questionnaire evaluating fear of movement and re-injury. While originally used for patients with chronic low back pain, it is now widely used for most parts of the body. The tool uses a 4-point scale for assessment based on fear-avoidance, fear of work-related activities, fear of movement, and fear of re-injury.
VALIDITY, RELIABILITY, SENSITIVITY: Moderate (Cronbach’s α 0.70 - 0.83) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
INSTRUCTIONS AND NOTES (for clinicians): The TSK has two subscales: Activity Avoidance (the beliefs that activity may cause injury or increased pain per items 1, 2, 7, 9 – 12) and Somatic Focus (the belief in underlying serious medical problems per items 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8).
Scoring is based on a 4-point Likert scale where: Items 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7,9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 17 are scored as between 1 being strongly disagree and 4 being strongly agree. However, items 4, 8, 12 and 16 are inverted so that 4 is strongly disagree and 1 is strongly agree. A total score between 17- 68 can then be calculated where higher scores (over 37) indicate a higher degree of kinesiophobia.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE (for patients): Please read the following list and provide a score between 1 and 4 for each item - 1 for strongly disagree and 4 for strongly agree. Please note that for some items, the scores are inverted so that 4 means strongly disagree and 1 means strongly agree.
Advantages
- Quick and easy to use for patients and clinicians
- Can be used to measure treatment efficacy over time
Disadvantages or Limitations
- There is no option for patients to choose ‘neither agree nor disagree’
- Patients or clinician may not notice the inverted scores for items 4, 8, 12, and 16
Complete online