Abstract
Social support can have beneficial effects on psychological and physiological well-being. During acute bodily pain, however, the effects of social support on pain are mixed. This variability may be due to the multifaceted nature of both pain and social support, as well as individual differences. In this paper, we present the development, psychometric assessment, and initial validation of the first self-report measure designed to address this variability in the general population; the Responses and Attitudes to Support during Pain questionnaire (RASP). The RASP includes questions on social support from the romantic partner as well as healthcare professionals (HCPs) and addresses different types of social support and pain responses. The development and validation of the RASP comprised four studies. In Study 1, a preliminary RASP version was completed by 179 healthy individuals regarding any type of acute pain. In Study 2, the reduced RASP was completed by 256 women with experiences of menstrual pain. Principal component analysis indicated a 22-item solution with five underlying dimensions reflecting General Partner Support, Emotional Support from HCPs, Anxiety in the Context of HCPs, Pain Behaviors during Partner Support, and Distraction by the Partner. Construct validity was assessed using a measure of adult attachment style. The RASP showed good validity and test-retest reliability. In Study 3, the 5-factor model received initial support through confirmatory factor analysis in a new sample of 120 individuals with recent musculoskeletal pain. Study 4 provided additional validation of the RASP in a sample of 180 individuals responding in reference to acute back pain. Overall, the RASP is a valid and reliable measure for assessing individual differences in attitudes and responses to social support in relation to acute pain.
Highlights
Pain is a multifaceted psychological state, arising in response to actual or potential tissue damage (International Association for the Study of Pain, 1994) and is frequently experienced within a social context
Principal component analysis With all 34 variables, i.e., the 32 items retained in the final solution in Study 1 plus the two new variables [see Revised version of the responses and attitudes to support during pain questionnaire (RASP)], the data showed very good sampling adequacy (KaiserMeyer-Olkin measure = 0.862; values ≥ 0.697 in the anti-image www.frontiersin.org correlation matrix) and correlations between variables existed in the data (Bartlett’s test was significant at p < 0.001), demonstrating that the data was suitable for PCA
Confirmatory factor analysis No univariate or multivariate outliers were identified and all cases were included in the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)
Summary
Pain is a multifaceted psychological state, arising in response to actual or potential tissue damage (International Association for the Study of Pain, 1994) and is frequently experienced within a social context. Another study found that cancer patients perceived emotional support as more helpful than unhelpful from spouses, informational support as helpful from other cancer patients, physicians and nurses, and instrumental support as most helpful from nurses (Dakof and Taylor, 1990). While both studies highlight that the effects of social support type depend on the source of support, they (a) used chronic or clinical samples and (b) found differing results regarding emotional support from spouses, highlighting the need for further research
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