Assessing Chronic Pain Processes Longitudinally: Psychometric Evaluation of the German 'Assessing Chronic Pain...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Pain Research
• Digital Health

Background:

• Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is increasingly used in pain research.
• Existing EMA questionnaires often lack psychometric evaluation, potentially impacting data quality.
• There is a need for validated German-language EMA tools for chronic pain psychological processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and psychometrically evaluate a German item set for assessing psychological chronic pain processes using EMA.
• To assess the variability and reliability of the developed item set.
• To provide a reliable tool for longitudinal pain research.

Main Methods:

• Item set development and piloting with chronic pain patients.
• Psychometric evaluation using EMA protocols with multiple daily assessments over extended periods (12 and 21 days).
• Analysis of variability (within-person standard deviations, response distributions) and reliability (test-retest, Spearman-Brown, McDonald's Omega).

Main Results:

• Most items and scales met predefined criteria for variability and reliability.
• Variance in responses was primarily due to between-person differences.
• Four out of thirteen scales exhibited insufficient reliability.

Conclusions:

• The study presents the first psychometrically evaluated German EMA item set for chronic pain psychological processes.
• The item set demonstrates promising reliability and variability, suitable for advancing longitudinal pain assessments.
• Further refinement and psychometric evaluation of specific scales are recommended.