Journal of advanced nursing
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Comparative Study
The clinical assessment of chronic pain in rheumatic disease: evaluating the use of two instruments.
Health care professionals are becoming increasingly aware of the complex nature of chronic pain. Measurement instruments are needed which will assist in better understanding the patient's response to the pain. The McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and an expanded version useful in comprehensive clinical assessment, the McGill Comprehensive Pain Questionnaire (MCPQ), are currently-available tools for assessing chronic pain. ⋯ The information gained through the use of the MCPQ was helpful in determining what living with chronic pain means to the individual. Such information should be useful in the future development of a valid and reliable instrument for more efficiently measuring the chronic pain experience. Such an instrument would be useful in coordination with the MPQ which focuses on pain description.