A Danish adaptation of the Pain Coping Questionnaire for children: preliminary data concerning reliability and...

The aim of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of a Danish translation of the Pain Coping Questionnaire (PCQ) for children in Danish children. The PCQ was translated using a translation-back-translation method. The subjects were 352 healthy children and 40 children with juvenile arthritis (JA), aged 8-17 y. Sixteen of the JA children were divided into a high-pain group (n = 7) and a low-pain group (n = 9). The results were factor analysed using principal component analysis with varimax rotation. Clinical pain intensity was measured using visual analogue scales (VAS) from the Varni/Thompson Pediatric Pain Questionnaire. Experimental pain was induced using a cold pressor pain paradigm and outcome measures were pain intensity, pain discomfort and tolerance to cold pressor pain. A seven-factor solution emerged as the most consistent factor structure. Four subscales, Seeking Social Support (SSS), Cognitive Distraction (CD), Externalizing (EXT) and Internalizing/Catastrophizing (INT), corresponded with the parallel subscales proposed by Reid et al. (Pain 1998; 76: 83-96). Two subscales, Positive Self-Statements (PSS) and Behavioral Distraction (BD), were composed of four of the five items from the previously proposed subscales. One subscale, Information Seeking/Problem Solving (IP), consisted of items from two subscales proposed by Reid et al., i.e. Information Seeking and Problem Solving. Internal consistencies of the subscales were acceptable, with reliability coefficients ranging from 0.60 (BD) to 0.83 (IP) and with test-retest reliabilities between 0.59 and 0.78. Low-pain JA patients showed significantly higher levels of BD than High-pain JA patients (p<0.05). Greater utilization of PSS and BD was associated with less patient-reported present pain and less average everyday pain (p<0.05-0.01), and greater utilization of INT was significantly associated with higher experimental pain intensity (p<0.01). These preliminary findings provide support for the reliability and validity of the Danish modification of the PCQ in a Danish population and for the hypothesis that paediatric pain-coping strategies are associated with the intensity of clinical and experimental pain.