Two brief versions of the multidimensional pain readiness to change questionnaire, version 2 (MPRCQ2)

The present study sought to develop 1-item and 2-item versions of subscales from the Multidimensional Pain Readiness to Change Questionnaire, Version 2 (MPRCQ2), a measure of readiness to adopt a variety of pain management and coping strategies commonly taught in multidisciplinary treatment programs.

One hundred and ninety patients with rheumatic diseases who entered a Rheumatology Day Program completed the MPRCQ2 and an additional criterion measure, the Pain Stages of Change Questionnaire (PSOCQ), before and after treatment. First one and then a second item that best represented each MPRCQ2 scale were selected based on: (1) the correlations between the items and their parent MPRCQ2 scale; (2) responsivity to change following treatment; (3) correlations of the items with the PSOCQ scales; and (4) authors' consensus of face validity and construct representativeness of items. The psychometric properties of the 1-item and 2-item versions of the MPRCQ2 scales were then examined.

These brief versions provided good approximations of their parent scales and 9/10 were responsive to change following multidisciplinary treatment. Correlations between the brief scales and the PSOCQ scales showed similar relationships as with the full MPRCQ2 scales.

The findings support the validity of these brief versions of the MPRCQ2 subscales. We would recommend the use of these versions of the MPRCQ2 when a measure of patient readiness to use a range of pain self-management coping strategies is needed (eg, treatment process research, prediction of success in multidisciplinary treatment), but response burden is a significant issue.