Table 4

Content of follow-up measures from self-completed questionnaire collected at 6-weeks, 6- and 12-months

Concept

Measurement method

Details

Bodily pain

- self-completed manikin

"In the past 4 weeks have you had pain that has lasted for one day or longer in any part of your body?"

Complaint specific functioning

Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA index (WOMAC LK3.0) [61]

pain (0–20), stiffness (0–8), physical function (0–68) subscales

Participant-nominated principal functional problem

"Because of your knee, what one thing gives you the most problems?" 11 point NRS

Knee pain intensity and unpleasantness

11 point NRS

Bothersomeness of knee problem

5 point scale: not at all, slightly, moderately, very much, extremely

Illness perceptions

Illness Perceptions Questionnaire Revised (IPQ(R)) [54]

9 dimensions: illness coherence, treatment control, personal control, timeline (acute/chronic), timeline (cyclical), consequences, emotional representation, identify, causes

Patient's self-efficacy

Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale [62]

11 items measuring patient's "certainty"

Global outcome

[67]

6 point scale: completely recovered, much improved, improved, same, worse, much worse

Credibility of interventions

- confidence in received treatment

- logic of received treatment Adapted from [58]

5 point Likert scale

Side effects

- self-reported side effects

nausea/vomiting, drowsiness/sleepiness, bruising, fainting, headaches, soreness to joints

Health care utilisation for knee problem

- consultations

GP, district nurse, physiotherapist, hospital consultant, osteopath, chiropractor, homeopath, acupuncturist

Medication for knee problem

- prescribed/OTC medication

medicine name, dose, number taken

Experiences and preferences for treatment

- previous experience with exercise

- preference for trial treatments

- perceived helpfulness of trial treatments

- outcome expectancy with trial treatments

yes, no

5 point Likert scale

4 point Likert scale

11 point NRS

Quality of life

EuroQol EQ-5D [63]

Summary score and VAS score

Occupational characteristics

- current employment status

- satisfaction with employment situation

- current/recent job title

- socio-economic classification

- work loss since last

questionnaire due to knee problem

working full time, working part time, working in the home, unemployed/seeking employment, not working due to ill health/disability, student, retired

very satisfied, satisfied, neither, unsatisfied, very unsatisfied

SOC 2000 [63,64]

Demographic characteristics

- date of birth, gender

- marital status

single, married, widowed, divorced, cohabiting, single

Hay et al. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2004 5:31   doi:10.1186/1471-2474-5-31