Comparison of Pain Measures in Surgical Patients

Abstract

Numerous instruments have been developed for the measurement of pain with various clinical populations. This study was designed to compare pain measures for research in a sample of postoperative patients. The Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF) was administered along with the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) and two visual analogue scales, one for pain while at rest (VAS-R) and one for pain upon movement (VAS-M), in random order, to 115 hospitalized patients twice following their surgery. An additional 29 patients completed the instruments once. Correlations between the visual analogue scales, BPI-SF, and SF-MPQ ranged from .33 to .76 (p < .01), suggesting that the instruments measure different aspects of pain and that instructions can influence the results. Recommendations for the selection of pain measures in patients experiencing acute pain and for future research are described.

A closer look: Alternative pain management practices by heart failure patients with chronic pain

“…Cronbach's alpha for the overall BPI-SF has been reported as 0.77 to 0.85. 16,17 For the current study Cronbach's alpha reliability for the BPI pain intensity and pain interference with activity was a ¼ .82 and a ¼ .87, respectively. Cronbach's alpha reliability for the full BPI, which combines both scales, was 0.89.…”

Is reduction in pain catastrophizing a therapeutic mechanism specific to cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain?

“…on an 11-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (no interference) to 10 (complete interference). The BPI has adequate internal consistency (α=0.85) in a variety of pain populations and concurrent validity with other pain instruments [53,54]. In the current sample, the BPI-intensity and BPI-interference scales both had adequate internal consistency (α=0.86 and α=0.91, respectively).…”

Psychosocial Factors Predict Pain and Physical Health After Lower Extremity Trauma

“…Numeric scales rate items from 0 to 10 with 0 being ''no pain or no interference'' and 10 being ''severe pain or severe interference.'' The BPI has proven reliable (Cronbach's alpha[0.80) and valid through strong correlations with the SF-36 pain scale and the Visual Analog Scale for pain in patients with postoperative pain [38,67].…”