The Utility and Construct Validity of Four Measures of Pain Intensity: Results from a University-Based Study in Spain

Abstract

Objective: Pain intensity is the most commonly assessed domain in pain research and clinical settings. To facilitate cross-cultural research, knowledge regarding the psychometric properties of pain intensity measures in individuals from different countries is needed. However, the majority of this research has been conducted in English-speaking countries.

Design: Survey study.

Setting: University.

Subjects: Four hundred nineteen college students.

Methods: Participants were asked to complete four measures assessing average pain intensity: 1) the 0-10 numerical rating scale (NRS-11), 2) the 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS), 3) the four-point verbal rating scale (VRS-4), and 4) the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R).

Results: The rates of incorrect completion of the four scales were uniformly low (range = 1-2%). The NRS-11 had the highest preference rate (31%), although a substantial number of participants also preferred each of the other three scales (range = 22-24%). The findings support the utility and construct validity of all four pain intensity scales in this Spanish-speaking sample.

Conclusions: When considered in light of research from other non-English-speaking samples indicating significant psychometric weaknesses for the NRS-11 and VAS and relative strengths of the FPS-R in some groups, the findings suggest that the FPS-R might be the most appropriate pain intensity scale to use when comparisons across populations from different countries is a goal. More research is needed to determine the extent to which demographic (i.e., age, education levels, socioeconomic status) vs cultural factors (i.e., country of origin) influence the reliability, validity, and utility of different pain measures.

Keywords: Assessment; Cross-Cultural Validation; Pain Intensity; Utility; Validity.