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Crombez G, De Paepe AL, Veirman E, et al. Let's talk about pain catastrophizing measures: an item content analysis. PeerJ. 2020;8:e8643doi: 10.7717/peerj.8643.
Crombez, G., De Paepe, A. L., Veirman, E., Eccleston, C., Verleysen, G., & Van Ryckeghem, D. M. L. (2020). Let's talk about pain catastrophizing measures: an item content analysis. PeerJ, 8e8643. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8643
Crombez, Geert, et al. "Let's talk about pain catastrophizing measures: an item content analysis." PeerJ vol. 8 (2020): e8643. doi: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8643
Crombez G, De Paepe AL, Veirman E, Eccleston C, Verleysen G, Van Ryckeghem DML. Let's talk about pain catastrophizing measures: an item content analysis. PeerJ. 2020 Mar 04;8:e8643. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8643. eCollection 2020. PMID: 32181053; PMCID: PMC7060750.
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PeerJ. 2020 Mar 04;8:e8643. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8643. eCollection 2020.

Let's talk about pain catastrophizing measures: an item content analysis.

PeerJ

Geert Crombez, Annick L De Paepe, Elke Veirman, Christopher Eccleston, Gregory Verleysen, Dimitri M L Van Ryckeghem

Affiliations

  1. Deparment of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
  2. Centre for Pain Research, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.
  3. Ghent University, Research Support Office, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent, Belgium.
  4. Experimental Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
  5. Institute for Health and Behaviour, INSIDE, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

PMID: 32181053 PMCID: PMC7060750 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8643

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Concerns have been raised about whether self-report measures of pain catastrophizing reflect the construct as defined in the cognitive-behavioral literature. We investigated the content of these self-report measures; that is, whether items assess the construct 'pain catastrophizing' and not other theoretical constructs (i.e., related constructs or pain outcomes) using the discriminant content validity method.

METHOD: Items (

RESULTS: Data were analyzed using Bayesian hierarchical models. The results revealed that the items from pain-related worrying, vigilance, pain severity, distress, and disability questionnaires were distinctively related to their respective constructs. This was not observed for the items from the pain catastrophizing questionnaires. The content of the pain catastrophizing measures was equally well, or even better, captured by pain-related worrying or pain-related distress.

CONCLUSION: Based upon current findings, a recommendation may be to develop a novel pain catastrophizing questionnaire. However, we argue that pain catastrophizing cannot be assessed by self-report questionnaires. Pain catastrophizing requires contextual information, and expert judgment, which cannot be provided by self-report questionnaires. We argue for a person-centered approach, and propose to rename 'pain catastrophizing' measures in line with what is better measured: 'pain-related worrying'.

©2020 Crombez et al.

Keywords: Catastrophizing; Content validity; Pain; Questionnaires; Validity; Worrying

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there are no competing interests.

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