Psychometric Evaluation of the Revised Iowa Pain Thermometer (IPT-R) in a Sample of Diverse Cognitively Intact and Impaired Older Adults: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Self-report pain assessment tools are commonly used in clinical settings to determine patients' pain intensity. The Iowa Pain Thermometer (IPT) is a tool that was developed for research, but also can be used in clinical settings. However, its utility in clinical settings is challenging because it uses a 13-point scale (0-12 scale) that does not align with common electronic pain scoring metrics. Therefore, this study evaluated the psychometric properties of an 11-point (0-10 scale) adaptation of the Iowa Pain Thermometer (IPT-R) to evaluate the psychometric properties of the IPT-R and to determine patient preference for a self-report pain assessment tool. A descriptive, correlational design was employed. The IPT-R was compared with the original IPT and a numeric rating scale (NRS). This study was conducted in the southeastern United States with 75 adults ranging in age from 65-95 years with varying levels of cognition. Participants were primarily representative of black and white backgrounds. Participants were asked to rate current pain, worst pain during the past week, and reassessment of current pain after 10-minute intervals using three scales (IPT-R, IPT, and NRS) presented in random order. Participants were asked to identify the tool preferred (the easiest to use and that best represented their pain intensity). Spearman-rank correlations were performed to determine convergent validity and test-retest reliability. Based on the results of this preliminary study, the IPT-R has good validity and reliability. The participants in this sample preferred the IPT-R over the original IPT (0-12 scale) and the traditional NRS (0-10 scale). Clinicians may consider using this tool with diverse older patients to assess pain intensity.