The reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the University of Washington pain-related self-efficacy scale in patients with chronic low back and neck pain

The University of Washington Pain-Related Self-Efficacy Scale (UW-PRSES) assesses pain-related self-efficacy but has not yet been adapted for Turkish-speaking populations. This study aimed to translate and culturally adapt the UW-PRSES into Turkish and to evaluate its psychometric properties, including reliability and construct validity. A total of 154 patients with chronic low back or neck pain completed the Turkish versions of the UW-PRSES (T-UW-PRSES), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ), and EuroQoL 5-Dimension 3-Level (EQ-5D-3 L). Test–retest reliability was assessed in 35 participants after one week. Internal consistency was examined using Cronbach’s α for the total scale, and test–retest reliability was evaluated with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC, two-way random-effects, absolute agreement). We hypothesized that higher T-UW-PRSES scores were expected to correlate negatively with pain intensity and fear-avoidance beliefs, and positively with health-related quality of life. The underlying structure of the scale was examined with exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The T-UW-PRSES demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.87) and good test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.865, 95% CI 0.748–0.929). SEM and SDC were 1.85 and 5.13, respectively, indicating good measurement precision. In line with pre-specified hypotheses, T-UW-PRSES scores correlated negatively with VAS at rest (r = − 0.359, p < 0.01) and VAS during activity (r = − 0.279, p < 0.01), and positively correlated with EQ-5D-3 L VAS (r = 0.246, p < 0.01). Correlations with FABQ (r = − 0.038, p = 0.61) and EQ-5D-3 L index (r = 0.139, p = 0.08) were non-significant. EFA supported a single-factor structure explaining 61.2% of the variance. The T-UW-PRSES demonstrates satisfactory reliability. In addition, the T-UW-PRSES demonstrates construct validity with VAS scores which assess pain and perceived health status for assessing pain-related self-efficacy in individuals with chronic low back and neck pain. Its brevity, ease of administration, and focus on pain-related self-efficacy support its routine use in both clinical and research settings.