Reliability and validity study of the Finnish version of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ)

Acceptance has been discovered to be successful in improving quality of life when adjusting to chronic pain. Instead of avoiding and controlling the pain, the goal is to confront the pain and to live a value directed life. Thus far, there has not been an instrument in Finnish to assess the acceptance of chronic pain. This study aimed at translating the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire-(CPAQ)-into Finnish and assessing its reliability and validity.

Eighty-one persons with different types of chronic pain responded to the CPAQ, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), RAND-36 and questions of sociodemographic and pain-related variables.

The responders' ages varied from 16 to 83 years (mean = 48.5 years) and 63% of them were women. For 55% of the participants, the pain had lasted more than 4 years and 63% from the sample had chronic pain in the low back or lower extremities. In test-retest analysis, the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC ) values were good, 0.81-0.87. Internal consistency was very good (α = 0.86). There was no floor-ceiling effect in the Finnish version of CPAQ. Correlation was found between both subscales of the CPAQ and every domain of the RAND-36 (r = 0.23; 0.68) and the BDI (r = -0.24; -0.62). Education, age, pain avoidance, social support and pain intensity correlated with either one of the subscales or total CPAQ. CPAQ revealed no association between fear of pain and pain duration.

In conclusion, the Finnish version of the CPAQ is a reliable and valid method for measuring chronic pain acceptance.