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Pain assessment with interactive computer animation
Michael Swanston1, Charles Abraham, William A Macrae
1Department of Business Studies, Dundee Institute of Technology, Dundee DD1 1HG UK Centre for Nursing Studies, Dundee Institute of Technology, Dundee DD1 1HG UK Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee DD1 9SY UK The Pain Clinic, Dundee Royal Infirmary, Dundee DD1 9ND UK Department of Psychology, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN UK.
Abstract:
A method of assessing pain using interactive computer animation is described. This method provides quantitative measurements of different qualitative aspects of pain experience without reliance on fine verbal distinctions. A clinical comparison of this procedure and the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) is reported. Correlations between paper and animated visual analogue scales (VAS) showed that animated measurements can be reliably compared to traditional paper-based reporting. Measurements using animations designed to assess different qualities of pain experience correlated significantly with SF-MPQ measures, providing good concurrent validity. A difference was found between patients who chose only one quality-of-pain animation and those who chose more than one, possibly indicating a difference in patients' verbal fluency. Patients overwhelmingly preferred the interactive animations to the paper-based method.