The Animated Activity Questionnaire: Validation of an innovative method for assessing activity limitations in patients with osteoarthritis

The development of the Animated Activity Questionnaire is a European project including Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, England and Norway. This paper is based on data from the Norwegian part. Objective: To test a computer-animated Questionnaire (AAQ), an innovative method for assessing function in patients with hip and/or knee osteoarthritis (OA). The new method is compared with established methods for measuring function. Design: The study is a European collaborative project and has a cross-sectional design. The Norwegian part is implemented as part of the research program FYSIOPRIM. Material and methods: Patients with hip and/or knee OA and relatives were recruited from four physiotherapy clinics. Patients answered questionnaires (HOOS/KOOS ADL and AAQ) and completed performance tests. Relatives rated patient’s function using the AAQ. Five a priori hypotheses were defined for validation of AAQ (construct validity). Results: 60 patients with hip and/or knee OA and 29 relatives participated. The correlation between AAQ scores for patients and relatives was very strong (r = .80). Patients AAQ-scores correlated strong/very strong with both H/KOOS ADL (r = .74, p < .001) and with performance tests (r = - .63 to - .66, p < .001). The correlation between pain and AAQ was weaker than between pain and H/KOOS ADL, but stronger than between pain and performance tests. Conclusion: Four out of five hypotheses were met, and it is concluded that AAQ is comparable with established methods of function in patients with hip and/or knee OA (construct validity). The standardized and readily available data-animated tool AAQ may be suitable for use in clinical physiotherapy practice