The development and preliminary validation of the pediatric survey of pain attitudes.

OBJECTIVE

Biopsychosocial models of pain hypothesize patient attitudes, and beliefs about pain play a key role in adjustment to chronic pain. The purpose of this study was to facilitate research testing the utility of biopsychosocial models in youths with physical disabilities by developing and testing the validity of a measure of pain-related beliefs that could be used with younger patients.

DESIGN

One hundred four youths with physical disabilities were administered, via interview, a measure of pain-related beliefs developed for youths with chronic pain-the Pediatric Survey of Pain Attitudes (Peds-SOPA)-and a modified Brief Pain Inventory Pain Interference scale.

RESULTS

Item analyses yielded a 29-item pain belief attribution that assessed seven belief domains. The internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) of the subscales varied from good to excellent (0.67-0.92). Pearson correlations between Peds-SOPA and the modified Brief Pain Inventory showed moderate associations between pain beliefs and pain interference for the Medical Cure (r = 0.29), Emotion (r = 0.27), and Disability (r = 0.36) scales.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate the Peds-SOPA scales are reliable and that a subset of the scales is associated with an important pain-related domain (pain interference), providing preliminary support for the validity of the Peds-SOPA scales.