Psychometric properties of the Pain Attitudes Questionnaire (revised) in adult patients with chronic pain

Previous evidence supports the utility of the newly developed pain attitudes questionnaire (PAQ) for assessing pain-related stoicism and cautiousness in community-dwelling pain-free adults (Yong et al., 2001). A revised questionnaire (PAQ-R) was examined in the present study to determine the generalizability of psychometric properties when used with chronic pain patients. Results from both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggest that the factor-structure of the revised questionnaire was best represented by a five- rather than a four-factor solution, thus, suggesting that chronic pain patients do not conceptualize the questionnaire items, in particular, with respect to the stoicism attitudes, in the same manner as the community-dwelling adults. A satisfactory internal consistency reliability of the PAQ-R was replicated in chronic pain patients. There was also evidence to suggest that chronic pain patients from different age cohorts do apply a similar frame of reference and calibration scale when responding to the items on the questionnaire. However, the cohorts of patients across the age spectrum show some differences in pain attitudes and possible reasons were discussed.