DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PAIN ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): The goal of Phase II is the continued development of the Comprehensive Pain Assessment System (COMPASS), a self-report battery of questionnaires designed to provide information about both the adaptive significance of a patient's pain problem and the psychosocial concomitants. The COMPASS consists of two components, the COMPASS Screen and the COMPASS Psychosocial Battery (PB). The Screen serves to evaluate the adaptive significance of the individual's chronic pain whereas the PB provides pain-related psychosocial information. Six studies will be conducted in Phase II. In Study 1, we will replicate the factor structure of the COMPASS Screen via confirmatory factor analysis in a representative, national sample of adults, develop national norms by gender and three age groups, gather additional validity data on the Screen, and evaluate possible gender and ethnicity bias. We plan to assess retest reliability, social desirability response bias, concurrent validity, and to conduct confirmatory factor analysis of the Psychosocial Battery (PB) in a national sample of adults with chronic pain in Study 2. In Studies 3 and 4 we will develop a Symptom Exaggeration Scale and a Random Response Scale. In Study 5, we plan to gather representative, national norms for the PB for gender and three age groups. Finally, in Study 6 we will examine the predictive validity of the PB. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The COMPASS will be employed as an aid to treatment planning and evaluation in traditional pain management settings (e.g., pain clinics, rehabilitation settings) as well as in primary care and general mental health settings. The target market includes a wide range of health care providers.