The examination of pain beliefs for chronic pain assessment and treatment has been a growing area of interest. A variety of questionnaires have been developed to assess pain beliefs, however, these questionnaires often require high levels of literacy and education. The Pain Concepts Questionnaire (PCQ) was developed with literacy-adaptations to better evaluate pain beliefs in a low socioeconomic (SES) population. This study is an initial exploratory evaluation of the PCQ in a sample of patients with chronic pain and multiple disparities as part of the Learning About My Pain (LAMP) trial, a randomized controlled trial comparing literacy-adapted psychosocial treatments for chronic pain. All data were collected at pre-treatment. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to examine the underlying factor structure of the PCQ and cross-sectional correlational analyses examined relationships between pain beliefs with sociodemographic factors and chronic pain-related variables. Results suggested a 2-factor solution with a Biopsychosocial factor and Biomedical factor. Consistent with the literature, correlational analyses highlighted racial and SES disparities in pain beliefs and the importance of beliefs in pain- and cognitive/affective-related functioning. The study emphasizes the importance of pain beliefs in chronic pain management and recommends future research to further examine additional psychometric properties of the PCQ.
Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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