ABSTRACT
The pain literature is awash with self-report patient questionnaires. A clinician wanting to quantify the effects of a chronic, nonmalignant pain problem on his or her patient now has a vast array of instruments to choose from. These assessment devices range from multiaxial, comprehensive tools such as the Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI) (1), and the Profile of Chronic Pain: Extended Assessment Battery (2), to measures of one aspect of the pain experience such as disability [e.g., Pain Disability Index (3)], to syndrome-specific measures [e.g., neuropathic pain assessment tool (4)], to body site-specific measures [e.g., foot pain questionnaire (5)]. Turk and Melzacsk’s (6) excellent textbook on assessment methods in chronic pain lists well over 100 different questionnaires, rating scales, and self-report devices for use in pain assessment.
