Global catastrophizing vs catastrophizing subdomains: assessment and associations with patient functioning

The primary objectives of the current study were to 1) confirm the three-factor model of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) items in a Japanese sample and 2) identify the catastrophizing subdomain(s) most closely associated with measures of pain and functioning in a sample of individuals with chronic pain.

This was based on a cross-sectional observational study.

This study was conducted in a university-based clinic.

One hundred and sixty outpatients with chronic pain participated in this study.

Patients completed the PCS, the Brief Pain Inventory, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; 30 patients completed the PCS again between 1 and 4 weeks later.

Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor structure of the Japanese version of the PCS, and univariate and multivariate associations with validity criterion supported the validity of the measure. Catastrophic helplessness was shown to make a unique contribution to the prediction of pain intensity, pain interference and depression, and catastrophic magnification made a unique contribution to the prediction of anxiety.

The findings support the cross-cultural generalizability of the three-factor structure of the PCS and indicate that the PCS-assessed catastrophizing subdomains provide greater explanatory power than the PCS total score for understanding pain-related functioning.