A Polish Version of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ-PL) for Use Among Patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Undergoing Physiotherapy: Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Validation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Polish version of a questionnaire for carpal tunnel syndrome patients, showing it is reliable and effective for assessing symptoms and function.

Contribution

The novel Polish version of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire is validated for use in physiotherapy settings.

Findings

The BCTQ-PL showed high internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.861 and 0.924 for symptom and function scales.

The questionnaire demonstrated excellent test–retest reliability with ICCs of 0.941 and 0.925 for the respective scales.

Abstract

Objectives: The cultural and linguistic adaptation of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) to Polish and the assessment of its psychometric properties among patients undergoing extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with repeated measures during retest examinations. Subjects from an outpatient rehabilitation center in Poland (n = 103) with mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) were evaluated three times. Test 1 and test 3 (after a series of four treatments using EWST) included the following: completing the BCTQ, QuickDASH, and SF-36 questionnaires, the VAS pain scale, performing the Tinel–Hoffmann and Phalen tests, and an assessment of grip strength. Test 2 (test–retest BCTQ) was performed two to seven days after test 1. Results: The Polish version of the BCTQ demonstrated a high internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.861 for the Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) and 0.924 for the Functional Status Scale (FSS). It also showed excellent test–retest reliability, with Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) of 0.941 for the SSS and 0.925 for the FSS. The Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) was 0.16 for the SSS and 0.21 for the FSS, while the Minimal Detectable Change (MDC) was 0.43 and 0.59, respectively. It has a high construct validity as 80% of the a priori adopted hypotheses were confirmed. The mean decrease after ESWT on the SSS was 1.04 points, and on the FSS was 0.77 points. The ES value for the SSS scale was 1.62 and for FSS 0.99, and the SRM was 1.35 for the SSS, and 1.01 for the FSS, which proves a higher sensitivity to changes in the BCTQ-PL. Conclusions: The BCTQ-PL is a valid and reliable tool for assessing CTS-related symptoms and functional status in Polish-speaking patients.

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