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. 2017 May;11(Suppl 1):S2-S10.
doi: 10.4103/sja.SJA_42_17.

Development and validation of Arabic version of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire

Abdullah Sulieman Terkawi  1   2   3 , Siny Tsang  4 , Abdullah Abolkhair  5 , Mohammed Alsharif  5 , Mousa Alswiti  2 , Adwa Alsadoun  6 , Usama Saleh AlZoraigi  2 , Saleh F Aldhahri  7 , Tariq Al-Zhahrani  8 , Khaild Ali Altirkawi  9
Affiliations

Development and validation of Arabic version of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire

Abdullah Sulieman Terkawi et al. Saudi J Anaesth. 2017 May.

Abstract

Introduction: The Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) is a widely used tool for qualitative and quantitative pain assessment. Our aim was to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the SF-MPQ in Arabic.

Methods: A systematic translation process was used to translate the original English SF-MPQ into Arabic. After the pilot study, we validated our version in patients with chronic pain at two tertiary care centers. We tested the reliability of our version using internal consistency and test-retest reliability. We examined the validity by assessing construct validity, concurrent validity (by investigating the associations between SF-MPQ, Brief Pain Inventory [BPI], and Self-completed Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs [S-LANSS]), and face validity. The questionnaire was administered twice to examine responsiveness.

Results: A total of 142 participants (68 men and 74 women) were included in this study. Cronbach's α was 0.85 (95% confidence interval: 0.81 - 0.89), and interclass correlation coefficients were 0.71 (0.62-0.79) for the whole scale. SF-MPQ was moderately associated with patients' present pain (r = 0.55, P < 0.001) and the numerical rating scale (r = 0.42, P < 0.001). The total pain score was moderately correlated with pain severity and interference assessed with the BPI (rs = 0.39 to 0.49, all Ps < 0.001). SF-MPQ total pain score was weakly associated with neuropathic pain assessed with S-LANSS (r = 0.26, P < 0.01). Most patients found the SF-MPQ questions to be clear and easy to understand and thought the questionnaire items covered all their problem areas regarding their pain.

Conclusion: Our translated version of SF-MPQ was reliable and valid for use among Arabic-speaking patients. The SF-MPQ is a good qualitative and quantitative assessment tool for pain but is only weakly associated with neuropathic pain.

Keywords: Anesthesia; Arabic; Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire; chronic pain; reliability; validity.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire sensory, affective, and total pain scores by pain description at Time 1. Error bars represent standard errors (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01). The maximum scores for total SF-MPQ pain scores are 45
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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