The European Portuguese adaptation of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire

Abstract

In Portugal, it is estimated that chronic pain affects 36.7% of the population, constituting a multifactorial phenomenon with great impact at individual, family, community, and social levels. In the fear-avoidance model of pain, one of the most consistent consensual in the literature, the fear arises as one of the variables that can contribute to the development and maintenance of this condition. Thus, instruments for evaluating the fear of pain, as Fear of Pain Questionnaire (FPQ-III), may be useful in the conceptualization of the subjective experience of pain. Accordingly, this paper aims to describe the adaptation of FPQ-III for the European Portuguese. A total of 1094 participants (795 women; mean age=25.16, SD=7.72) completed the web based questionnaire. The results pointed to a different factor solution found in the first study of the original scale (five factors: minor pain, severe pain, medical pain, injection pain, and afflicted pain), good internal consistency (.75–.85) and good correlations (between .30 and .59) between subscales and (between .68 and .85) for the total score and subscales. Given the need to meet the various dimensions of subjective experience of pain, the Fear of Pain Questionnaire is assumed as a useful tool, in combination with other, may contribute to the evaluation and intervention procedures progressively more comprehensive and adjusted to the challenges raised with the issue of chronic pain.