Concurrent validity of questions on arm, shoulder and neck symptoms of the RSI QuickScan

Purpose: The objective was to determine the concurrent validity of questions on arm, shoulder and neck symptoms of an Internet-based questionnaire. In addition, the inter-observer reliability of physical examinations by occupational physicians was investigated. Methods: A total of 160 employees of a Dutch occupational health service were approached, of which 106 participated. Right after the assessment of arm, shoulder and neck symptoms using a self-administered questionnaire, each participant was examined by two occupational physicians. The presence of symptoms in the past 7 days was compared to the physical examinations. The participation of two occupational physicians allowed us to study also the inter-observer reliability. Results: Overall, the concurrent validity of the symptom questions of the questionnaire can be defined as poor to moderate with κ values between 0.16 and 0.53. Detecting the presence of symptoms (p