title: Analysis of the Scoliosis Research Society-22 Questionnaire Scores: Is There a Difference Between a Child and Parent and Does Physician Review Change That?
abstract: METHODS
  Prospective sequential patient series.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether at initial assessment information imparted by a physician changed the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) score for a patient or a parent scoring independently of the child; to investigate whether the SRS score should be assessed before or after consultation to achieve the most accurate representation of the patient; and to investigate the differences between the patient and parent assessment of the scoliosis using the SRS questionnaire.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 52 children with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and their parents were given the SRS-22 questionnaire at first consultation before and after meeting the physician. Parents and patients completed the questionnaires in isolation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Assessment and discussion with a physician made no statistical difference for the SRS-22 scores for both the patients and the parents when comparing SRS-22 scores before and after consultation in most domains. Significant differences were found in a few cases. This was the case for the patient group before and after consultation for the function domain (p = .023), the patient and parent groups before and after consultation for the pain domain (p = .025 and .022 for patient and parent groups respectively), the patient and parent groups after consultation for self-image domain (p = .024), and the parent group before and after consultation for mental health domain (p = .018). However, the differences in all these cases were low and not considered clinically important.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SRS-22 questionnaire is robust and a true reflection of patients' assessment of their symptoms not influenced by meeting a physician. Assessment of the child by the parent is not statistically different from the child's self-assessment using the SRS-22 instrument. It makes no difference to the total SRS-22 score as to when it is measured in the initial clinic visit.
authors.affiliation: Spinal Deformity Unit, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Bristol Road South, Northfield, Birmingham B31 2AP, UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brewer
authors.affiliation: Spinal Deformity Unit, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Bristol Road South, Northfield, Birmingham B31 2AP, UK.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berryman
authors.affiliation: Spinal Deformity Unit, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Bristol Road South, Northfield, Birmingham B31 2AP, UK.
authors.forename: De
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Spinal Deformity Unit, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Bristol Road South, Northfield, Birmingham B31 2AP, UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pynsent
authors.affiliation: Spinal Deformity Unit, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Bristol Road South, Northfield, Birmingham B31 2AP, UK. Electronic address: adrian.gardner@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gardner
keywords: Deformity; Idiopathic scoliosis; SRS-22 questionnaire