Scale Analysis

The McGILL Pain Questionnaire was developed by Melzack and Torgerson, who aimed to initiate the identification of the properties of pain.

Objective

The McGILL Pain Questionnaire was designed to provide quantitative measurements of clinical pain, which can be subjected to statistical analysis and yield conclusions about patients’ pain experiences.

Question Calibration

The questions addressed to groups of doctors, patients, and students consisted of a numerical pain rating scale ranging from 1 (mild) to 5 (excruciating).

Statistical Analysis

Participants were asked to classify 102 words, derived from the clinical literature on pain, into smaller groups that describe different aspects of the pain experience. Based on the data, the words were categorized into 3 main categories and 16 subcategories. Each subcategory, given a descriptive label, consists of a group of words that were considered by most participants to be qualitatively similar.

Validity and Reliability

Overall, all correlations are statistically significant and indicate internal consistency among the three indices of the questionnaire.

References

Authors: Melzack, Torgerson
Tags: McGILL Pain Questionnaire, MPQ, pain