Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire: Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Greek version

The Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) was developed to assess general pain sensitivity.

This study aimed to validate the Greek version of PSQ.

The questionnaire was translated into Greek (PSQ-GR) and piloted in a small sample of patients with chronic pain (n = 35). A total of 146 chronic pain patients and healthy volunteers completed the PSQ-GR, the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI). To evaluate the test-retest reliability, 36 volunteers completed the PSQ-GR twice over 7 ± 2 days.

Internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's alpha 0.90-0.96) for PSQ-total, PSQ-minor, and PSQ-moderate. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was estimated at 0.90-0.96 for PSQ-total, PSQ-minor and PSQ-moderate and the SEM was 0.59-0.90 for PSQ-total, PSQ-minor and PSQ-moderate approximately. The smallest detectable change was 0.48 for PSQ-total, 0.47 for PSQ-minor and 0.44 for PSQ-moderate. Positive and significant correlations were observed between PSQ-GR and HADS (r = 0.38, p < 0.01), PCS (r = 0.41, p < 0.01) and CSI (r = 0.30, p < 0.01). Statistically significant differences in PSQ-GR scores were identified between the healthy volunteers and the chronic pain patients.

The PSQ-GR is a reliable and valid tool that can assess pain sensitivity in healthy individuals and chronic musculoskeletal pain patients.