Development of a brief version of the Survey of Pain Attitudes

Because patient attitudes and beliefs about pain have been shown to affect treatment outcomes and adjustment to illness, a number of self-report instruments have been developed assess those constructs. The Survey of Pain Attitudes (SOPA) is a well-researched instrument that assesses patient feelings about pain control, solicitude (solicitous responses from others in response to one's pain), medication (as appropriate treatment for pain), pain-related disability, pain and emotions (the interaction between emotions and pain), medical cures for pain, and pain-related harm (pain as an indicator of physical damage or harm). The factor structure of the SOPA, however, has not been verified and its length makes its administration cumbersome. The present study examined the factor structure of the SOPA and developed a brief 30-item version of the original. Factor analysis showed that the SOPA did not contain seven unique dimensions. The brief version (the SOPA-B), however, clearly reflected the seven dimensions described for the SOPA. The psychometric properties of the SOPA-B were comparable to those of the SOPA. The SOPA-B appears to be a practical, easily-administered alternative to the longer version.