Avaliação das propriedades de medida da pain catastrophizing scale em pacientes com dor crônica oncológica

Abstract

Introduction: According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is a sensory or emotional experience, which can be directly or partially associated with a real or potential tissue injury event, with multifactorial and biopsychosocial characteristics, and can be influenced by different components, such as anxiety, sadness and frustrations. Catastrophizing can modify the subjective experience of pain, amplifying the processing of pain signals. Objective: The objective of the study was to analyze the measurement properties of the Brazilian version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) in patients with chronic cancer pain. Methods: The research was carried out at the Maranhão Cancer Hospital and Aldenora Bello Hospital in the city of São Luís (Maranhão, northeast of Brazil). In addition to the PCS, the following instruments were applied: Barthel Index, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (EHAD) and Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS). The measurement properties tested were reliability, internal consistency and construct validity. Results: The sample consisted of 120 cancer patients. The average age of the research subjects was ~49 years old. The majority of the sample was made up of women (65.8%), married (50.8%) and with basic education (60%). 33 different types of cancer were identified, the most prevalent being uterine cancer (22.5%) and leukemia (10%). Adequate test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient ranging from 0.77 to 0.90) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.78 to 0.86) were observed. The construct of the PCS domains is valid, with a correlation magnitude of 0.30 to 0.50 being observed between the PCS domains and the well-being domain of the ESAS and the anxiety and depression domains of the EHAD. The maximum or minimum score was not reached by more than 15% of the sample, we consider that there were no floor and ceiling effects. Conclusion: The Pain Catastrophizing Scale presented adequate measurement properties for evaluating the catastrophizing of chronic cancer pain, constituting an implementation tool in the evaluation of these patients.