Your opinion on Pain Questionnaires

Dear all

we are conducting a study to assess patient satisfaction with health questionnaires. We kindly ask that you read the 3 attached questionnaires (without completing them) and then rate them by following this link:

freeonlinesurveys.com/s.asp...

The 3 questionnaires can be found here: (there is no need to complete them, just read them and then tell us what you think by completing the survey).

1st questionnaire (read only): euroqol.org/fileadmin/user_...

2nd questionnaire (read only): sf-36.org/tools/pdf/SF-36v1...

3rd questionnaire (read only): drbrassie.com/files/Oswestr...

Thank you very much for your contribution!

If you would like to know more about the study please read below.

Back pain is a subjective experience and several validated questionnaires exist that help quantify the amount of pain. This is useful clinically in many ways; for example the impact of the pain on activities of daily living guides management. The health quality questionnaires also allow us to determine whether interventions are beneficial by monitoring the progress of patients over time. In this study we are assessing three well known and validated questionnaires from the patient's point of view. We are looking to see how easy they are to fill in and find out which one you prefer. All the data collected anonymously will be analyzed and then recommendations will be made to use the questionnaire that most people preferred.

[Hidden]

Possibly some of the questions seem to be invasive of patient privacy and depending who is asking the questions May cause negative results

In what context will these questionares be used ???

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hello borderriever

the three questionnaires provided are already used in clinical settings. Our aim is to see which one of the three is preferable in terms of clarity, time taken to complete and appropriateness of questions.

Which quesions did you find more personal than you would like?

Any other comments or feedback is welcomed!

Thank you!

[earthwitch]

"clinicalstudies", You don't seem to have put anything about you on your profile. I wouldn't respond to your request without knowing who you were, and what you were going to be using the information for. Its basic research ethics.

[Hidden in reply to earthwitch]

Dear 'earthwitch'

All three of the questionnaires shown above are extensively used in clinical practice and there is data to suggest that all are scientifically valid. Also all 3 questionnaires serve the same purpose which is to attempt to quantify chronic pain. What we are aiming to do is find out which one is the best from the patients point of view. So it is only necessary to glance over the 3 questionnaires and then complete the survey at the end which asks questions about their quality. We already had a big response on this from other sources but I cannot reveal which questionnaire is the preferred one so far because it may influence the responses of members here. Once all data is collected we are going to make recommendations to only use the preferred questionnaire in our neurosurgical practice.

I hope this helps!

[earthwitch in reply to Hidden]

No, I'm sorry it doesn't help. I like to see a lot more information about who is doing the research, whether they are affiliated to a research or teaching institution and whether they have any form of ethics approval before I take part in any kind of survey or research with a medical or health focus, so sorry, I won't be responding.

[RibvanRey]

The biggest problem with such check sheets is clear explained by Form 3. In asking about standing for various lengths of time the sheet assume the user has legs and/or the use of these legs.

Too often check sheet assessment fails to cater for users who have multiple problems. It should be easy enough to have a clause for each question which asks eg "is this because of you back" or "why is this".

Personally if I had to complete Form 3 it would have been binned as I could not understand what the Repetitions part was wanting me to even do. I totally lost my ability to function in attempting that question. I had to take time out before coming back here and answering Your questionnaire and then writing this.

Regards Rib

[Hidden in reply to RibvanRey]

Thank you for your comments!

[Hidden in reply to RibvanRey]

If you answer honestly then there's not a problem. It's not a case of what you think you should put, but exactly how you feel.

Repetition just double checks how you feel. You might not feel full of pep (which I interpret as overflowing with energy) but you might feel energetic (which I interpret as not tired).

[Hidden]

I found Questionnaire 1 confusing. The first 2 questions were about ability and mood. Question 3 then talked about health. I may be wrong, but I think a lot of people think of their disability/pain seperately from their health.

No 2 at least tried to cover all bases and get a lot of info. There should be an opt out button for some of the more personal questions, so they can only be used when relevant.

Q3 - needs an option - this activity not possible

Q4/5 - needs positive options to respond to

Q9 - feeling full of pep - maybe not the best question to start with - could cloud mood and alter thoughts

No 3 is just activities and I suppose if done at regulat intervals it should show improvement in response to therapies.

None of them have an option to say - you do things despite the pain, or that you don't mind doing things knowing what the pay off is. None ask if you ever Push yourself to get out your comfort zone and how often. None ask for how much you understand your condition and how this affects your activity and mood. None ask if you have established a care routine and whether it works or needs improving. None ask about your greatest achievement in the last month or what problems you face reaching your current goal.

I found it a very negative experience reading the questions having to think about my limitations in a clinical way. I really would not want to see them written down. I go through life assessing and appraising my ability, and working out ways to increase it. I see myself as less abled not disabled.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Dear Zanna,

your feedback is very useful thank you!

A lot of people have mentioned the point you raised about pain being different than health and that people may still do certain activities despite the pain.

I am collecting all the feedback from this thread and I will include them anonymously in the data.

[solowheelie]

I feel that all 3 questionnaires had elements of not sufficient options. As a wheelchair user i am not confined to bed or unable as in Questionnaire 1 - which has far too few potential answers. Questionnaire 2 was an improvement on Q1 although the potential answers were still limited. For me Questionnaire 3 was by far the best as it asked questions related to what my life in practice is like although it requires an 'unable to do at all' answer to balance the 'can do without difficulty' one in most sections.

I am not sure whether the scoring part of Q3 would be shown to the patient or not but i think some clients might struggle to see what % disabled they were - this wasn't a problem for me but i do know disabled people who would much rather put their head in the sand than know what is happening to them.

As a general comment as someone with a chronic long term disability and constant pain i (and i suspect many others) measure perfect health by their best day rather than as someone without any disability or pain would answer the question - so my good day would look like a bad day to someone who is normally fit and healthy.