Fears and beliefs play a key role in the development of low back pain according to the biopsychosocial model without specific tool in French. The Back and Beliefs Questionnaire (BBQ) is a validated self-administered questionnaire, allowing to detect the presence of false beliefs related to lumbar disease and that can guide therapeutic management. The objectives of this study were to (i) translate, (ii) validate the BBQ in French, (iii) and compare results with published validations.

A prospective bicentric study was conducted in chronic low back pain (CLBP) adults included in a specific multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. The translation was made according to the method of translation/back-translation by three independent translators. The validation included a content validity (acceptability, value of each item), construct (correlation tests), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), reliability (test-retest), sensitivity to change. The tests used as comparators were the FABQ and TAMPA (avoidance), the Quebec (function), the Dallas (participation), the HAD (mood) and the VAS (pain). The questionnaire was given two times before the rehabilitation intervention and one time after.

In total, 131 patients were enrolled. Acceptability was excellent (0.43% non response) without ceiling or floor effect for the overall score. No correlation was detected with pain (−0.15, P=0.19), an anticorrelation was intermediate with the Tampa (−0.66, P<0.001) low with FABQ (−0.52, P<0.001) to be negligible with the Quebec, Dallas and HAD. Internal consistency was satisfactory (Cronbach α of=0.8). The test-retest agreement was low (ICC=0.64, 95% CI: 0.52–0.73) for a good to very good sensitivity to change (P<0.0001; SRM=−0.7)

The French version of BBQ demonstrated excellent psychometric properties consistent with the original release. The agreement, however, is lower in this work compared to original validation probably related to the concomitant realization of educational assessment modifying beliefs at the first visit (like changing FABQ). The link with the work has not been tested.

The results of this work allow to use the BBQ in clinical practice (patient education) and research in chronic low back pain population.