The Rating of Perceived Exertion—Pediatric (RPE-P) Scale: Preliminary Validation

Abstract

Physical activity is critical to functional rehabilitation for youth with chronic pain, which may be especially true for those with co-occurring obesity. To facilitate the development of physical activity interventions for youth with chronic pain, the newly developed “Rating of Perceived Exertion—Pediatric” scale was modeled after the widely used pain numeric rating scale-11. This study is an initial evaluation of the scale in a sample of adolescents (n = 157, 13–17 years, 51% female) with four subgroups: (1) healthy controls (healthy weight/no pain); (2) chronic pain/healthy weight; (3) obese (no pain); (4) chronic pain/obese. Participants rated perceived exertion using the new scale and the Borg 6–20 Scale of Perceived Exertion while holding a three-minute yoga pose (Warrior II). In the whole sample, the Perceived Exertion—Pediatric scale showed good concurrent (p < 0.001), convergent (all ps < 0.05), discriminant (p = 0.431), and known-groups validity (all ps < 0.05). The chronic pain subgroup also showed good concurrent (p < 0.001), mixed convergent (ps < 0.001 to 0.315), and good discriminant validity (p = 0.607). Limitations include the restricted age range, lack of diversity, and lack of test-retest reliability. The RPE-P shows promise as an assessment tool for perceived exertion in adolescents with and without chronic pain.