Social support in chronic pain: development and preliminary psychometric assessment of a new instrument

Abstract

Satisfaction with social support (pain-relevant social support) may influence pain experience and behaviour in patients with chronic pain. Prior studies on measurement of social support, however, have been limited by the use of general, rather than of pain-specific assessment instruments. In this study, a new pain-relevant social support instrument, the Social support and Pain Questionnaire (SPQ), is presented together with an evaluation of its psychometric properties. A literature search was performed to establish different aspects of social support. For each of the six aspects found, one item was selected for inclusion in the new questionnaire. The draft version of the questionnaire was field tested. Thereafter, the psychometric properties of the SPQ were assessed in 250 patients with oro-facial pain. Principal component analysis (n=250) showed that the SPQ had a one-factor structure. The test-retest reliability of the SPQ (in a subsample of 54 patients) was fair-to-good (R=0·70; P<0·000). Convergent validity, as compared with a non-specific social support instrument, was good (n=140; R=0·54; P<0·000). The SPQ is a valid and reliable instrument, which offers the possibility to explore the patient's satisfaction with pain-related social support. With the SPQ, a useful tool to assess the influence of social support in patients with various types of pain is provided.

Validation of the Social support and Pain Questionnaire (SPQ) in patients with painful temporomandibular disorders

“…This was consistent with other previous studies [15, 26]. In order to get a semantically and conceptually similar version to the original SPQ, the process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original SPQ was carried out.…”

“…And when each item was deleted, the values of Cronbach’s alpha remained stable. The value of ICC (0.784, 90% CI: 0.648–0.893) was higher than the values in the original study, indicating good test-retest reliability [15]. For the selection of the time interval, previous study suggested that a period of 2 days to 2 weeks was thought to be suitable [27].…”

“…Other studies, however, have shown that social support has negative effects on mobility and physical function [13, 14]. To further explore the impact of social support on chronic pain may give us new insights into the treatment of pain-related diseases [15]. Most measures on social support are mainly concerned with social support in daily-life situations, rather than its relationship to pain [16, 17].…”

“…Recently, the Social support and Pain Questionnaire (SPQ) was developed by the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA) to measure satisfaction with social support related to pain [15]. It is a 6-item, one-factor structure, self-administered English instrument [15].…”

“…It is a 6-item, one-factor structure, self-administered English instrument [15]. The SPQ is a reliable and valid tool to evaluate the patient’s satisfaction with pain-related social support [15]. …”