Development of a brief version of the Survey of Pain Attitudes

Because patient attitudes and beliefs about pain have been shown to affect treatment outcomes and adjustment to illness, a number of self-report instruments have been developed assess those constructs. The Survey of Pain Attitudes (SOFA) is a well-researched instrument that assesses patient feelings about pain control, solicitude (solicitous responses from others in response to one's pain), medication (as appropriate treatment for pain), pain-related disability, pain and emotions (the interaction between emotions and pain), medical cures for pain, and pain-related harm (pain as an indicator of physical damage or harm). The factor structure of the SOFA, however, has not been verified and its length makes its administration cumbersome. The present study examined the factor structure of the SOFA and developed a brief 30-item version of the original. Factor analysis showed that the SOFA did not contain seven unique dimensions. The brief version (the SOPA-B), however, clearly reflected the seven dimensions described for the SOFA. The psychometric properties of the SOPA-B were comparable to those of the SOFA. The SOPA-B appears to be a practical, easily-administered alternative to the longer version. (C) 1997 International Association for the Study of Pain.