Development and Psychometric Analysis of a Questionnaire to Assess Living with Chronic Pain in Older Adults

A precise and specialized questionnaire to evaluate living with chronic pain among the older adults is essential to the holistic assessment and effective management of chronic pain among this population.
To develop and analyze the psychometric properties of a questionnaire to assess living with non-cancerous chronic pain among older individuals.
This study was a part of a sequential mixed exploratory research. The development and psychometric analysis of a questionnaire to assess living with non-cancerous chronic pain among the older individuals was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, the grounded theory approach was applied to explore the mentioned concept based on the viewpoints of 30 older individuals with chronic pain, three relatives, and 29 healthcare providers. The participants were selected through purposive and theoretical sampling methods. In the second stage, the items of the questionnaire were developed based on the results of the qualitative stage (first stage) and the review of the relevant literature. In the last stage (psychometric analysis), the methodological approach was applied to evaluate the face, content, and construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and stability of the questionnaire.
Based on the participants’ viewpoints in the qualitative part of the study, an older individual’s living with chronic pain involved a series of different methods adopted by the individual to actively adapt with pain. The initial questionnaire was developed during the second stage. In the third phase of the study, the face and content validity of the questionnaire were measured by qualitative and quantitative approaches, respectively (CVR= 0/91, the mean content validity index = 0.93). Moreover, exploratory factor analysis to assess construct validity resulted in two factors. The first factor (individual lifestyle) included eight items and the second factor (social lifestyle) contained seven items. Finally, after test-retest, the internal consistency (α = 0.89) and stability (ICC = 0.94) of the questionnaire were confirmed.
Considering the acceptable validity and reliability of the developed questionnaire, it can be administered to assess living with chronic pain in older individuals. The obtained results can then be used by healthcare providers and researchers for effective pain management among the mentioned population.