Preliminary validation of the Turkish version of the pain catastrophizing scale for children and parents (PCS-C and PCS-P) in primary childhood headache
İlteriş Ahmet Şentürk1
, Egemen Ünal2, Mahmut Cem Tarakçıoğlu3, Müge Kepekçi4, Edibe Pembegül Yıldız5
1Department of Algology, University of Health Sciences, Bağcılar Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Türkiye
2Department of Public Health, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Türkiye
3Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Türkiye
4Department of Physical Therapy, University of Health Sciences, Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Türkiye
5Department of Pediatric Neurology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Türkiye
Keywords: Anxiety, childhood headaches, depression, pain catastrophizing scale.
Abstract
Objectives: The aims of this study were to translate the pain catastrophizing scale for children and parents (PCS-C and PCS-P) into Turkish (TurPCS-C and TurPCS-P) and evaluate the psychometric properties in children with primary headache.
Methods: Exploratory factor analysis was used to test the construct validity. Reliability was measured using item-total score correlation, internal consistency (Cronbach α coefficient), Cronbach α if the item was deleted, and test-retest correlation. Concurrent validity and convergent validity of the scales were correlated with other scales (Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale [RCADS], RCADS Parent RCADS-P, Quality of Life Scale for Children [PedsQL], and PedsQL-Parents [PedsQL-P]) and some related features (pain intensity, mobile phone usage time, and headache duration).
Results: Of the 80 children participating in the study, 55 (68.8%) were girls and 25 (31.2%) were boys. It was determined that the original three-factor structure was not supported for TurPCS-C and TurPCS-P. Cronbach α value was 0.871 for TurPCS-C consisting of 12 items, and Cronbach α value was 0.890 for TurPCS-P consisting of 12 items. As the PedsQL score increased, there was a negative correlation (p<0.05, r=−0.575) in all three areas of TurPCS-C, and there was a positive correlation (p<0.05) among the scores from the RCADS scale and TurPCS-C. Similarly, there was a negative correlation with PedsQL-P and TurPCS-P and positive correlation with RCADS-P and TurPCS-P (p<0.05 for each).
Conclusion: TurPCS-C and TurPCS-P are an evaluation instrument with sufficient validity and reliability, and it can be reliably used to examine pediatric patients with primary headache.