Pain Catastrophizing Scale for Francophone Adolescents: a preliminary validation.

BACKGROUND

In adults, it is well known that high levels of pain catastrophizing are related to increased pain and disability as well as to heightened anxiety and depression. However, due to the lack of a measure of pain catastrophizing adapted for francophone adolescents, little is known about the role of catastrophizing in this population.

OBJECTIVES

To adapt the French version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and to examine the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the PCS for Francophone Adolescents (PCS-Ado).

METHODS

The French version of the PCS was modified by a group of experts. The format of the questions was modified to be appropriate for adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years. To assess the psychometric properties of the PCS-Ado, 345 adolescents completed the PCS-Ado and questionnaires measuring depression, anxiety and intensity of pain. Twelve to 16 weeks later, participants completed the questionnaires again to examine the test-retest reliability of the PCS-Ado.

RESULTS

Results revealed a three-factor solution similar to the original PCS. In addition, results revealed that PCS-Ado had good internal consistency (PCS-Ado total: 0.85; rumination: 0.72; magnification: 0.66; helplessness: 0.74), and high test-retest reliability (r=0.73). Finally, significant correlations among catastrophizing, depression, anxiety and pain intensity support the construct validity of the PCS-Ado.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that the PCS-Ado is valid and reliable with francophone adolescents. Further research is required to assess the validity of the PCS-Ado in clinical settings.