title: German version of the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ): translation and validation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Musculoskeletal disorders are a public health problem with significant effects on work ability. In the context of the promotion and prevention of work-related health, there is a need for valid, simple, time-saving and universally applicable methods for the assessment of musculoskeletal pain and complaints. The aim of this study was the translation of the English Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) into German and the validation of the German version.
  
  
  METHODS
  The linguistic and cultural adaption of the CMDQ into German (D-CMDQ) followed international guidelines. The adapted pre-version was initially tested in terms of comprehensibility on 44 persons with different educational and occupational backgrounds. The questionnaire was validated further on 68 employees with the reference of an 11-point Numeric Rating Scale (Cohen's Kappa and Spearman's rank correlation coefficients). Finally, reliability (Cohen's Kappa) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) were verified.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The D-CMDQ meets the requirements for comprehensibility and demonstrated good validity: The values of Cohen's Kappa and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient obtained substantial to excellent agreement, with one exception. The Kappa values for the test-retest reliability were mainly in the moderate to substantial range whilst taking the prevalence effect into account. The internal consistency was proven satisfactory.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The D-CMDQ meets the psychometric requirements for questionnaires. A clear one-sided presentation of body areas enables the time-saving assessment of musculoskeletal complaints and their effects on work ability. As a result, a broad application in the German-speaking world for different occupational groups seems possible, whether performing physical, manually repetitive or sedentary work.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Preventive Medicine of the Rostock University Medical Center, St.-Georg-Str. 108, D-18055 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Steffi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kreuzfeld
authors.affiliation: Institute and Policlinics for Occupational and Social Medicine, Dresden University of Technology, Fetscherstr. 74, D-01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Reingard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seibt
authors.affiliation: Center for Life Science Automation, University of Rostock, F.-Barnewitz-Str. 8, D-18055 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Mohit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Center for Life Science Automation, University of Rostock, F.-Barnewitz-Str. 8, D-18055 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rieger
authors.affiliation: Institute for Preventive Medicine of the Rostock University Medical Center, St.-Georg-Str. 108, D-18055 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stoll
keywords: Ergonomics; Musculoskeletal disorders; Pain assessment; Prevention; Questionnaires; Validation study; Work-related health promotion