RT Journal Article
T1 What Determines Whether a Pain is Rated as Mild, Moderate, or Severe? The Importance of Pain Beliefs and Pain Interference
A1 Jensen, Mark
A1 Tomé-Pires, Catarina
A1 de la Vega, Rocío
A1 Galán, Santiago
A1 Solé, Ester
A1 Miró, Jordi
K1 Dolor - Aspectos psicológicos
K1 Personas con discapacidad
AB Reliable and valid measures of pain intensity are needed to accurately evaluate the efficacy of pain treatments. Perhaps with the exception of FACES pain intensity scales, which are thought to reflect both pain intensity and pain affect, the other most commonly used pain intensity scales – Numerical Rating Scales (NRSs), Visual Analogue Scales, and Verbal Rating Scales (VRSs) – are all thought to reflect primarily pain intensity or the magnitude of felt pain. However, to our knowledge, this assumption has not been directly tested for VRSs. Here we evaluated whether VRS pain severity ratings are influenced by pain beliefs, catastrophizing, or pain interference over and above any effects of pain intensity, as measured by a NRS, in four samples of individuals with physical disabilities and chronic pain. As hypothesized, and while controlling for pain intensity as measured by a NRS, higher scores on factors representing pain interference with function, pain catastrophizing, and a number of pain-related beliefs were all associated with a tendency for the study participants to rate their pain as more severe on a VRS. These findings indicate VRSs of pain severity cannot necessarily be assumed to measure only pain intensity; they may also reflect patient perceptions about pain interference and beliefs about their pain. Clinicians and researchers should take these findings into account when selecting measures and when interpreting the results of studies using VRSs as outcome measures.
PB Wolter Kluwers
YR 2017
FD 2017-05-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/44917
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/44917
LA eng
NO Jensen MP, Tomé-Pires C, de la Vega R, Galán S, Solé E, Miró J. What Determines Whether a Pain is Rated as Mild, Moderate, or Severe? The Importance of Pain Beliefs and Pain Interference. Clin J Pain. 2017 May;33(5):414-421. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000429. PMID: 27584819; PMCID: PMC5332521.
NO https://openpolicyfinder.jisc.ac.uk/id/publication/8945?from=single_hit
NO National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
NO Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
NO Obra Social de Caixabank
NO RecerCaixa
NO (ICREA-Acadèmia
NO Fundación Grünenthal
NO Beatriu de Pinós Postdoctoral Fellowship
NO AGAUR
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 3 mar 2026