• Sungkun Cho, Hye-Young Kim, and Jang-Han Lee.
• Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, 221 Heukseok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 156-756, Korea. sungkunc@cau.ac.kr
• Qual Life Res. 2013 Sep 1;22(7):1767-72.

PurposePain catastrophizing often has been measured using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS). Studies of the PCS nearly consistently support its three-factor structure (i.e., helplessness, magnification, and rumination) and satisfactory psychometric properties across different countries and languages. This study aimed to assess the generalizability of the three-factor structure of the PCS to Korean patients with chronic non-cancer pain and to investigate reliability, measurement error, and construct validity of a Korean version of the PCS (K-PCS).MethodsA total of 182 patients with chronic pain seeking treatment in a tertiary pain center located in Seoul, Korea, participated.ResultsConfirmatory factor analysis demonstrated the adequacy of the three-factor structure of the K-PCS; 'helplessness,' 'magnification,' and 'rumination.' The internal consistency for 'helplessness,' 'magnification,' 'rumination,' and total scale of the K-PCS were Cronbach's α = .90, .71, .86, and .93, respectively; test-retest stability, ICC = .77, .73, .65, and .79, respectively; the standard estimation of measurement, 1.93, 1.34, 2.13, and 3.72, respectively; the minimum detectable change, 5.33, 3.70, 5.89, and 10.28, respectively; and the limits of agreement, -7.66 to 9.20, -5.07 to 5.01, -7.30 to 6.86, and -15.26 to 16.46, respectively. At least moderate positive correlations were observed between the K-PCS and pain intensity, depression, and pain-related anxiety, and moderate negative correlations between the K-PCS and physical and psychological functioning.ConclusionThe K-PCS has the reliability, measurement error, and construct validity support for assessing pain catastrophizing in a Korean patient sample with chronic non-cancer pain.

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