Development of the Norwegian Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (NSF-MPQ)

• Published in: Advances in physiotherapy Vol. 9; no. 4; pp. 169 - 180
• Main Authors: Ljunggren, Anne Elisabeth, Strand, Liv Inger, Johnsen, Tom Backer
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Informa UK Ltd 2007; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Concurrent validity; discriminative ability; internal consistency; pain measurement
• ISSN: 1403-8196; 1651-1948
• DOI: 10.1080/14038190701552677

The Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) contains 15 pain descriptors (11 Sensory, four Affective). The aim was to develop a valid Norwegian SF-MPQ (NSF-MPQ). Descriptors were selected among 333 previously collected Norwegian pain adjectives, selection criteria being conceptual equivalence to the SF-MPQ and adjectives used by > 33%. Pain intensity scoring systems of the SF-MPQ were modelled. The NSF-MPQ, a pain drawing and the Disability Rating Index were presented to 277 patients from five different clinical settings. All pain descriptors were used by ≥ 33% in at least one of the five clinical groups, patients with persistent pain using most descriptors. Cronbach's was adequately high (0.74-0.87). Spearman rank ( ) correlations were moderate to very high between groups of pain descriptors (0.68-0.97). Pain descriptor scores showed low to moderate correlations with the two pain intensity variables (VAS and Present Pain Intensity) (0.27-0.52). All scores showed low correlations with pain area extension (0.20-0.45) and disability (0.05-0.30), indicating construct validity of the NSF-MPQ. The NSF-MPQ discriminated between two or more patient groups on item level, but discriminative ability on total score and subscore levels was mediocre. The NSF-MPQ seems to express a different construct than pain distribution and disability, and allows registration of distinctions of pain qualities.