Introduction
chronic pain, pain, Pain, cognitive and affective response
CHRONIC PAIN
Pain catastrophizing is a coping strategy characterized by a pattern of maladaptive cognitive and affective response to painCurrently, the most well-known measure of pain catastrophizing is the 13-item Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS). Substantial evidence has accumulated to support the validity of PCS scores, and the measure is widely used in researchOne study compared the PCS and BriefPCS based on Rasch analysis and calculated test information for the PCS, the BriefPCS, and other short form scalesBased on these considerations, the current study aimed to characterize the validity, reliability, and accuracy of the BriefPCS in distinguishing levels of pain catastrophizing in adults with chronic pain who sought treatments at a tertiary pain clinic, and to characterize the BriefPCS’s sensitivity to change following pain psychology interventions. We hypothesized that PCS scores crosswalked from BriefPCS scores would accurately predict actual PCS scores. Furthermore, the concurrent validity of the BriefPCS would be similar to that of the PCS. Finally, we hypothesized that the BriefPCS would perform similarly to the PCS in a large RCT of pain psychology interventions in patients with chronic pain.