Development and und validation of a short form of a patient questionnaire for assessing rehabilitational expectations and motivations (FREM-8)

The original questionnaire for assessing rehabilitational expectations and motivations (FREM-17) was first developed in 1995 within a bi-national research project. In this study the influence of motivation on rehabilitation outcomes on several diagnostic groups was investigated. The questionnaire proved useful with respect to practical and methodological aspects. It consists of 17 items and 4 dimensions ("recreation", "health", "coping with disease", "retirement"). In most rehabilitational research the primary interest is not in patient motivation. Therefore there exists a certain demand for a short questionnaire which requires little time and effort. In an own study such a short instrument was needed, and a motivation questionnaire with 8 items was developed and tested on several diagnostic groups. The short form of the questionnaire shows the same dimensionality as the 17 items questionnaire, reliability proves to be lower than that of the long version. Several indicators of patients’ health perception were used as validation criteria. Analysis showed assumed correlations as known from other studies. To conclude it can be said that the short form questionnaire (FREM-8) is comparable to the long version in its properties and can be used instead of the 17 items form in given situations.