Initial psychometric evaluation of the canine brief pain inventory in a Danish sample of dogs with pain related to osteoarthritis

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most diagnosed arthropathy in dogs. Since the characteristic manifestation of OA is pain, clinical metrology instruments for OA should detect observable outcomes related to OA pain and be validated in the translated form. This study aimed to validate a Danish translated version of Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI) in a cohort of dogs diagnosed with OA.

Methods: The CBPI was translated into Danish. Data of clinically healthy dogs were compared with data of dogs with OA, and the translation was analysed for construct validity and internal consistency. Construct validity was tested with an exploratory factor analysis by principal component analysis, while internal consistency was estimated by Cronbach's α coefficient.

Results and conclusions: The Danish version of CBPI was completed by owners of 72 dogs with OA and 21 owners of clinically heathy dogs. Dogs with OA had significantly higher CBPI scores than healthy dogs, demonstrating the Danish CBPI's discriminant ability. An identified two-factor model accounted for 77.7 % of the total variance. Good internal consistency was identified across the instrument with high Cronbach's α levels: 0.95 for the total CBPI, 0.93 for the first factor (items 1-6) and.0.88 for the second factor (items 7-10).