The Keele STarT Back Screening Tool Questionnaire: linguistic adaptation of the Russian language version

Introduction. The original English-language questionnaire for identifying the risks of developing chronic back pain The Keele STarT Back Screening Tool was developed in 2007 and adapted for use in many languages. The article describes the linguistic adaptation of the Russian version of the questionnaire The Keele STarT Back Screening Tool conducted in accordance with generally accepted rules.

Aim. Linguistic adaptation of the Russian-language version of The Keele STarT Back Screening Tool.

Materials and methods. Linguistic adaptation was carried out in five stages: 1) direct translation by three translators; 2) development of one version of direct translation; 3) reverse translation by two native English speakers; 4) development of one reverse version and its discussion by a committee of experts; 5) preliminary testing of the Russian version in a group of 30 patients (10 men and 20 women) aged from 28 to 84 years (average age 61.3 ± 8.7 years) with acute back pain, who in the period of April-June 2022 were on outpatient or inpatient treatment at the Clinic of Nervous Diseases of Sechenov University for nonspecific back pain (n = 21) and radiculopathy (n = 9).

Results and discussion. All patients reported that the wording of the questionnaire items was clear and did not raise additional questions. The response time to the questions ranged from 30 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds (on average – 1 minute 18 seconds).

Conclusion. The adapted Russian version of The Keele STarT Back Screening Tool questionnaire to identify the risks of developing chronic back pain did not cause comments from patients and experts. This version can be used to confirm its psychometric properties.

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