Assessment of the convergent validity of pain intensity in the Pain Sensory Tool

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the convergent validity of the Pain Sensory Tool with the Poker Chip Tool. Both tools were used to assess children's pain intensity (ages 5 to 14 years). A total of 104 hospitalized Taiwanese children with acute pain were asked to participate in this study. All children were required to use both the Pain Sensory Tool and the Poker Chip Tool to measure their pain. The results of Pearson correlation revealed a coefficient of.79 to.88. The convergent validity of the Pain Sensory Tool with the Poker Chip Tool was therefore supported. No significant differences in preferences of using the PST and the PCT were found by age group and sex. The findings of this study also demonstrated that the Poker Chip Tool can be used to measure Taiwanese children's pain intensity. In addition, the Pain Sensory Tool and the Poker Chip Tool were reliable instruments to measure pain intensity of Taiwanese children (ranged from 5 to 14 years of age). However, 27 % of five-year-old children failed to understand the instructions of the PST although these children were dropped from the study. This raises concerns about the validity of the PST for five-year-old children. It is not clear whether these five-year-old children were outliers or whether the PST is difficult for younger children. The authors suggested duplicating this study and specifying the five-year-old age group for the validity test.