Psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale in patients with chronic neck pain

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Examination of the construct validity and internal consistency of the Greek version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) in patients with chronic neck pain. METHOD Data from 45 patients with chronic neck pain, who completed the Greek version of the PCS, were used. The patients were aged 35.9±14.5 years and had experienced neck pain for longer than 6 months, at least once per week. RESULTS The Greek version of the PCS was found to have very good internal consistency (α=0.78–0.95). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the data had a very good fit to the model (x2=77.71, p=0.09). The loadings of the items to their corresponding subscale were 0.75–0.92 for the rumination subscale, 0.58–0.91 for the magnification subscale and 0.38–0.93 for the helplessness subscale. The scale showed good convergent validity (average variance extracted: 0.63–0.68), but its subscales had questionable divergent validity. The scale can discriminate well between patients with different levels of catastrophizing (male versus female, Mdiff=8.43, p=0.03). No ceiling or floor effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS The Greek version of the PCS has very good construct validity and internal consistency for the assessment of pain catastrophizing in patients with idiopathic chronic neck pain. With the PCS, health professionals, including physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, and physiotherapists are provided with a valid and reliable tool for monitoring catastrophizing and estimating the effectiveness of their therapeutic interventions in patients with chronic neck pain. © Athens Medical Society.