ABSTRACT
Pain of severe intensity may be a primary reason why both patients and their families decide to abandon treatment. This chapter examines some of the methodological issues in the measurement of pain and its impact, and illustrates how specific measurement techniques might be used in prevalence and risk studies, in clinical and quality assurance applications, and in the conduct of clinical trials in cancer pain. Whatever the eventual application, pain measurement and measurement of functional impairment will use measurement scales which allow for at least ordinal ratings of the severity of pain or impairment. Three general types of pain measurement scales have proven to be useful in a variety of clinical and research settings; the categorical scale, the visual analog scale, and the numeric scale. An effective intervention for cancer pain control should demonstrate its effectiveness on more than a reduction in pain intensity alone.
