Initial Psychometric Properties of the Pain Care Quality Survey (PainCQ)

Hospitalized oncology patients experience pain from their cancer, as well as from surgery, procedures, treatments and side effects. Despite efforts to improve management of pain, many patients experience unacceptable levels of pain.

Nurses are at the front line and part of an interdisciplinary team responsible for pain management that also includes physicians, pharmacists, rehabilitation therapists, social workers and other supportive care staff. Reliable, valid and sensitive tools are needed to measure and improve the quality of care related to pain management.

This study tested the structural validity and internal consistency of the psychometric properties of the 44-item Pain Care Quality (PainCQ) survey tool used to assess the quality of care from the patient’s perspective. Some 109 patients from three geographically diverse oncology units participated.

The four key themes of PainCQ are:

  1. Being treated right (13 items)
  2. Having a safety net (9 items)
  3. Being in partnership with the health care team (14 items)
  4. Having pain treatment that was efficacious (8 items).

Findings from testing of the tool support the structural validity and reliability of a 33-item version of PainCQ. The researchers are further testing the shorter version in a sample of 300 patients to attempt further item reduction.

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