Biobehavioral pain profile: development and psychometric properties

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Abstract
Although a number of self-report indices that measure intensity and psychosocial components of the pain experience are available, these measures do not assess the range of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological reactions frequently associated with pain. This paper describes the initial determination of the psychometric properties of the Biobehavioral Pain Profile (BPP) developed to measure these reactions. The BPP is a 41-item self-report scale tested in a sample of 617 subjects with chronic recurrent pain, chronic non-malignant pain or chronic malignant pain. Kaiser's measure of sampling adequacy was 0.918. Factor analysis revealed 6 theoretically meaningful factors: Environmental Influences, Loss of Control, Health Care Avoidance, Past and Current Experience, Physiological Responsivity, and Thoughts of Disease Progression. Cronbach's alpha scores for the specific subscales ranged from r = 0.77 to r = 0.94. Test-retest reliability for the scales ranged from 0.57 to 0.73. Low correlations among the BPP and general indices of fear, depression, anxiety, body consciousness and social desirability are reported. The BPP appears to provide a unique composite assessment of self-report of behavioral, physiological, and cognitive reactions to pain experienced by individuals with a wide range of pain problems.