FABQ (Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire)
Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ; Waddell 1993): how far someone believes activity or work will harm their back.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Item 2 - Activity makes pain worse
- 4
- Item 3 - Activity might harm the back
- 4
- Item 4 - Should avoid painful activity
- 4
- Item 5 - Cannot do painful activity
- 4
- Item 6 - Pain caused by work
- 5
- Item 7 - Work made the pain worse
- 5
- Item 9 - The work is too heavy
- 5
- Item 10 - Work makes the pain worse
- 5
- Item 11 - Work might harm the back
- 5
- Item 12 - Should not do normal work now
- 5
- Item 15 - Not back at work in 3 months
- 5
Result: FABQ - physical activity 16 of 24, work 35 of 42.
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Physical activity
- Sum of items 2, 3, 4, 5. Range 0 to 24.
- Work
- Sum of items 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15. Range 0 to 42.
- Not scored
- Items 1, 8, 13, 14, 16 are asked but count toward neither subscale.
- Caution
- The two subscales are never added together. A combined 0 to 96 range, quoted by several calculators, is impossible when the parts are 24 and 42.
- Scope
- Measures beliefs, not physical capacity or tissue damage. No cutoff is asserted; the 1993 source publishes none.
What you enter
- Item 1 - Pain caused by physical activity (not scored)
- Item 2 - Activity makes pain worse (PA)
- Item 3 - Activity might harm the back (PA)
- Item 4 - Should avoid painful activity (PA)
- Item 5 - Cannot do painful activity (PA)
- Item 6 - Pain caused by work (Work)
- Item 7 - Work made the pain worse (Work)
- Item 8 - Has a compensation claim (not scored)
- Item 9 - The work is too heavy (Work)
- Item 10 - Work makes the pain worse (Work)
- Item 11 - Work might harm the back (Work)
The other 5 fields
- Item 12 - Should not do normal work now (Work)
- Item 13 - Cannot do normal work now (not scored)
- Item 14 - Cannot work until treated (not scored)
- Item 15 - Not back at work in 3 months (Work)
- Item 16 - Never returning to that work (not scored)
How this is calculated
Waddell G, Newton M, Henderson I, Somerville D, Main CJ. A Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) and the role of fear-avoidance beliefs in chronic low back pain and disability. Pain. 1993;52(2):157-168. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.