Development and initial validation of the Bristol Impact of Hypermobility questionnaire

Abstract

Objectives

Stage 1 – to identify the impact of joint hypermobility syndrome (JHS) on adults; Stage 2 – to develop a questionnaire to assess the impact of JHS; and Stage 3 – to undertake item reduction and establish the questionnaire's concurrent validity.

Design

A mixed methods study employing qualitative focus groups and interviews (Stage 1); a working group of patients, clinicians and researchers, and ‘think aloud’ interviews (Stage 2); and quantitative analysis of questionnaire responses (Stage 3).

Setting

Stages 1 and 2 took place in one secondary care hospital in the UK. Members of a UK-wide patient organisation were recruited in Stage 3.

Participants

In total, 15, four and 615 participants took part in Stages 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Inclusion criteria were: age ≥18 years; diagnosis of JHS; no other conditions affecting physical function; able to give informed consent; and able to understand and communicate in English.

Interventions

None.

Main outcome measures

The development of a questionnaire to assess the impact of JHS.

Results

Stage 1 identified a wide range of impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions In Stage 2, a draft questionnaire was developed and refined following ‘think aloud’ analysis, leaving 94 scored items. In Stage 3, items were removed on the basis of low severity and/or high correlation with other items. The final Bristol Impact of Hypermobility (BIoH) questionnaire had 55 scored items, and correlated well with the physical component score of the Short Form 36 health questionnaire (r = −0.725).

Conclusions

The BIoH questionnaire demonstrated good concurrent validity. Further psychometric properties need to be established.

Citation

Development and initial validation of the Bristol Impact of Hypermobility questionnaire.