Confirmatory factor analysis of the Korean version of the short-form McGill pain questionnaire with chronic pain patients: a comparison of alternative models

Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists for ≥ 3 months [1,2] and usually does not respond to conventional treatment or surgery [3]. As a result of this long-lasting pain, many chronic pain patients (CPPs) face restrictions in their daily activities [4]. For example, the fatigue and mobility limitations accompanying chronic pain can lead to a deterioration of physical function, possibly resulting in disability [5,6]. Additionally, CPPs are likely to have psychological problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, sleep disorders), which often lead to substance abuse and even suicide [7,8]. In such situations, the proper measurement of the quality and intensity of painful experiences would be useful for formulating a plan of treatment and predicting its outcome [9].

The Short Form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) is the most widely used assessment of the quality and intensity of pain [10]. The SF-MPQ is an abbreviated form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire [11] and is used in medical settings in place of the long-form questionnaire for pragmatic reasons. The SF-MPQ purports to measure sensory and affective pain (referred herein as the Melzack model) and has been widely validated in many languages and countries. The sensory category (e.g., shooting, sharp) focuses on the nociceptive pain experience, and the affective category (e.g., tiring-exhausting, fearful) focuses on the emotional component of nociceptive pain [12]. In previous validation studies, the factor structure of the SF-MPQ varied widely from various two-factor structures to a five-factor structure, although research on the SF-MPQ quite consistently supports its two-factor structure (i.e., sensory, affective) across different countries and languages [12].

For example, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of a Korean version of the SF-MPQ (KSF-MPQ) has been performed in CPPs [13]. The results yielded a two-factor structure consisting of ‘sensory’ and ‘affective’ factors, excluding the two items referring to ‘heavy’ and ‘splitting’ (referred herein as the KSF-MPQ model) [13]. Wright et al. [10] performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for patients with chronic back pain. To meet the criteria of the model fit indices, they set item 6 (gnawing) as an affective instead of sensory category and correlated four sets of error terms. They then obtained a two-factor structure consisting of ‘sensory’ and ‘affective’ factors (referred herein as the Wright model). Shin et al. [14] performed EFA for Asian-American cancer patients and obtained a two-factor structure that differs from the Melzack model (referred herein as the Shin model). Burckhardt and Bjelle [15] performed EFA on a Swedish version of the SF-MPQ for female patients with either fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis. The EFA produced three factors: the sensory category was divided into acute-sensory and chronic-sensory, and the affective category was retained (referred herein as the Burckhardt model). Cassisi et al. [16] performed EFA for African-Americans and European-Americans with chronic pain, obtaining a five-factor solution for African-American patients (referred herein as the Cassisi A model) and a four-factor solution for European-American patients (referred herein as the Cassisi B model).

To examine the possibility of utilizing the KSF-MPQ in medical and research settings, further validation of the KSF-MPQ is necessary. As previous studies have shown different factor structures of the SF-MPQ across countries or cultures [10], it is especially important to examine its appropriateness for Korea. Thus, this study aimed to confirm whether the KSF-MPQ model is an appropriate model for CPPs in Korea by comparing several alternative models of the SF-MPQ using CFA.