Psychometric Evaluation of the Return to Duty Readiness Questionnaire
Chronic pain due musculoskeletal injury is the leading cause of disability and reduced combat readiness in the U.S. Army. Unidimensional pain management systems are not effective in addressing the complex phenomenon of pain-related disability. Growing evidence has supported use of the Fear Avoidance Model as a suitable model to address pain-related disability and chronicity from a multidimensional pain neuroscience approach. While several fear avoidance measurement tools exist, one that addresses the complexity of the Army environment requires further development and validation. Preliminary development of an Army specific fear avoidance screening, the Return to Duty Readiness Questionnaire (RDRQ) demonstrated good psychometric properties during pilot study, warranting further validation research. The purpose of this study was to further investigate the psychometric properties of the RDRQ to provide validity evidence through examination of internal structure, reliability, and the relationship to a another well studied fear avoidance measurement tool. Confirmatory factor analysis did not support the hypothesized four-factor first order or four-factor higher order model, revealing that a three-factor model is a better fit to the data. Reliability coefficients demonstrate acceptable internal consistency values (α = 0.94, ωt = 0.94). Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient of (R=0.74) when compared with the Fear Avoidance Components Scale (FACS) suggests that the RDRQ measures the construct of fear avoidance. Contributions to fear avoidance theory through this research is discussed along with study limitations and directions for future research.
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