Development and validation of a daily Injustice Experience Questionnaire

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Pain Management
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Cognitive appraisal patterns in chronic pain can change over time.
• Variability in injustice appraisals, a key cognitive appraisal, has not been previously examined.
• The Injustice Experience Questionnaire (IEQ) measures injustice appraisals related to pain and disability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate a brief, daily version of the Injustice Experience Questionnaire (Daily IEQ).
• To assess the day-to-day variability of injustice appraisals in individuals with chronic pain.
• To examine the relationship between daily injustice appraisals and other pain-related constructs.

Main Methods:

• Adapted IEQ items for daily use and conducted cognitive interviews.
• Administered the Daily IEQ to two internet-based samples of US adults with chronic lower back pain over 10 days.
• Utilized exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to validate the measure's structure and its associations with other constructs.

Main Results:

• A six-item short form of the Daily IEQ was refined, maintaining a two-factor structure.
• Daily IEQ scores showed significant correlations with pain catastrophizing, pain intensity, activity interference, mood, and anxiety.
• Daily IEQ items demonstrated sufficient variability for time-level analysis.

Conclusions:

• Injustice appraisals exhibit significant day-to-day variability in chronic pain.
• The Daily IEQ is a valid measure for assessing time-varying injustice appraisals.
• Assessing injustice perception as a dynamic construct is crucial for understanding chronic pain experiences.