Global Consensus From Clinicians Regarding Low Back Pain Outcome Indicators for Older Adults: Pairwise Wiki Survey Using Crowdsourcing

Arnold Yl Wong; Henrik H Lauridsen; Dino Samartzis; Luciana Macedo; Paulo H Ferreira; Manuela L Ferreira

doi:10.2196/11127

Global Consensus From Clinicians Regarding Low Back Pain Outcome Indicators for Older Adults: Pairwise Wiki Survey Using Crowdsourcing

JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol. 2019 Jan 15;6(1):e11127. doi: 10.2196/11127.

Authors

Arnold Yl Wong^#¹, Henrik H Lauridsen^#², Dino Samartzis^#³, Luciana Macedo^#⁴, Paulo H Ferreira⁵, Manuela L Ferreira⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China (Hong Kong).
² Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
³ Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States.
⁴ Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁵ Department of Physiotherapy, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁶ Institute of Bone and Joint Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 30664493
PMCID: PMC6350088
DOI: 10.2196/11127

Abstract

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most debilitating conditions among older adults. Unfortunately, existing LBP outcome questionnaires are not adapted for specific circumstances related to old age, which may make these measures less than ideal for evaluating LBP in older adults.

Objective: To explore the necessity of developing age-specific outcome measures, crowdsourcing was conducted to solicit opinions from clinicians globally.

Methods: Clinicians around the world voted and/or prioritized various LBP outcome indicators for older adults on a pairwise wiki survey website. Seven seed outcome indicators were posted for voting while respondents were encouraged to suggest new indicators for others to vote/prioritize. The website was promoted on the social media of various health care professional organizations. An established algorithm calculated the mean scores of all ideas. A score >50 points means that the idea has >50% probability of beating another randomly presented indicator.

Results: Within 42 days, 128 respondents from 6 continents cast 2466 votes and proposed 14 ideas. Indicators pertinent to improvements of physical functioning and age-related social functioning scored >50 while self-perceived reduction of LBP scored 32.

Conclusions: This is the first crowdsourcing study to address LBP outcome indicators for older adults. The study noted that age-specific outcome indicators should be integrated into future LBP outcome measures for older adults. Future research should solicit opinions from older patients with LBP to develop age-specific back pain outcome measures that suit clinicians and patients alike.

Keywords: crowdsourcing; low back pain; older people; outcome indicators; wiki survey.

©Arnold YL Wong, Henrik H Lauridsen, Dino Samartzis, Luciana Macedo, Paulo H Ferreira, Manuela L Ferreira. Originally published in JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology (http://rehab.jmir.org), 15.01.2019.