The following is a summary of “Initial validation of the 12-item Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia in a retrospective sample of adults with chronic headache,” published in the November 2023 issue of Pain by Sturgeon et al.
Fear of pain and movement (kinesiophobia) is gaining attention in chronic headache studies despite its established role in other chronic pain conditions.
Researchers investigated the applicability of the 12-item Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-12) for measuring fear of movement in individuals with chronic headaches.
They conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the 12-Item TSK-12 using a clinical dataset from 210 adults with various headache diagnoses seeking care at a multidisciplinary pain clinic. One item related to an “accident” initiating the pain condition was excluded.
The results showed that the confirmatory factor analysis for the remaining 12 items demonstrated a suitable model fit for the established 2-factor structure (activity avoidance and bodily harm/somatic focus subscales). Consistent with prior literature, total TSK-12 scores exhibited moderate correlations with pain severity, pain-related interference, positive and negative effects, depressive and anxious symptoms, and pain catastrophizing.
Investigators concluded that the TSK-12’s applicability in chronic headaches highlighted the impact of pain-related fear but required further validation with specific headache types.
