The development and preliminary validation of the Profile of Chronic Pain: Extended Assessment Battery

Abstract

The aim of the present research was the development and validation of a set of instruments, collectively called the Profile of Chronic Pain: Extended Assessment Battery (PCP:EA), designed to be administered to adults (between the ages of 25 to 80) after establishing the existence of a chronic pain problem. The final 86-item version of the PCP:EA consisted of 33 single items assessing: pain location and severity, pain characteristics (e.g. worst daily pain), medication use, health care status, the identity of the most important person in the patient's life, and functional limitations in 10 areas of daily living. In addition, the PCP:EA includes 13 multi-item subscales addressing aspects of coping (guarding, ignoring, task persistence, and positive self-talk), catastrophizing, pain attitudes and beliefs (including disability beliefs, belief in a medical cure for pain, belief in pain control, and pain-induced fear), and positive (tangible and emotional) and negative (insensitivity and impatience) social responses. Data were obtained from two national samples which were recruited and screened via a random-digit dialing telephone interview procedure. Stratified sampling was employed to assure equal gender and age group representation across three age groupings (25–44; 45–64; 65–80). Two survey studies provided strong evidence for the hypothesized factor structure, internal consistency, independence from response bias, and validity of the PCP:EA. Moreover, the presence of normative data enhance the diagnostic and prescriptive utility of the instrument.