Sponsor
This study was funded by the Oregon Health & Science University Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. Dr. Nicolaidis time was supported, in part, via a career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH073008).
Published In
Pain Medicine
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
4-1-2011
Subjects
Chronic pain -- Treatment, Pain -- Measurement, Chronic pain -- Psychological aspects, Quality of life
Abstract
Objective: To develop and begin to evaluate a new measure of the centrality of pain in patients' lives.
Design: Cross-sectional survey and cognitive interviews.
Setting: Academic general internal medicine clinic.
Patients: 65 adult internal medicine patients with chronic non-malignant pain (CNMP).
Outcome measures: We assessed content validity and clarity of the 10-item Centrality of Pain Scale (COPS) by soliciting feedback from chronic pain experts and by conducting cognitive interviews with patients with CNMP. We assessed internal consistency reliability using Cronbach's alpha. We assessed construct validity by comparing the COPS with other measures of chronic pain morbidity including pain severity, depression, anxiety, physical and mental health function, PTSD, quality of life, and provider assessment.
Results: Healthcare providers felt the COPS had excellent face validity. Cognitive interviews revealed that patients' understanding of the items matched the intended construct, the scale measured an important concept, and items were easy to understand. The COPS had excellent internal consistency (alpha=0.9). COPS was negatively associated with age (r=−0.29; p=0.02), but not with other demographic characteristics. Higher COPS scores were associated with poorer physical (r=−0.48; p
Conclusions: The COPS has excellent internal consistency and construct validity. Additional studies are needed to further validate the scale.
Rights
Copyright © 2011 Oxford University Press
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01072.x
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/9413
Citation Details
Published as: Nicolaidis, C., Chienello, T., Gerrity, M. The Development and Initial Psychometric Assessment of the Centrality of Pain Scale. Pain Medicine. 2011; 12: 612-617.
Description
This is the author's manuscript. Originally published in Pain Medicine, 2011 April; 12(4): 612-617.
The definitive version was published online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01072.x