The Joint Protection Knowledge Assessment (JPKA): Reliability and Validity

Abstract

The aim of this study was to design and test a multiple-choice questionnaire to assess the joint protection knowledge of people with rheumatoid arthritis. The questionnaire content was generated from a literature review and face validity was established. The correct answers for the items included in the Joint Protection Knowledge Questionnaire (JPKA) were identified in an inter-rater agreement study with 31 rheumatology occupational therapists. All the questions achieved significant agreement using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (p<0.01 for all items). The content validity was partially established using a panel of 18 rheumatology occupational therapists. A test-retest reliability study with 20 people with rheumatoid arthritis showed no significant difference on two tests at 2 month intervals (median JPKA score test 1 = 78.75%; test 2 = 85%: z = 1.39; p = 0.16). The JPKA is a reliable and valid assessment which can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of joint protection education programmes.