Semantics of pain in Italy: the Italian version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire.

The Italian version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) is presented. Unlike Melzack's version, it was developed by employing 3 groups of normal subjects, excluding physicians or patients suffering from chronic pain. The verbal scale of pain intensity was obtained by 78 descriptors which form the semantic key and their rank values within each subclass were thus obtained. Melzack's subdivision of the descriptors into classes and subclasses was respected. Procedure was also basically the same. The Italian version of the MPQ joins the English, French and Finnish ones and might provide the basis for future cross-cultural studies.