Researchers measured participation in chronic back pain patients, in a study published in The Spine Journal.
The study used a modified five-item pain disability index score to measure participation of 70 patients suffering from chronic back pain. Patients received a questionnaire addressing measures of participation, resilience, anxiety and depression, pain intensity and pain-related disability.
The pain disability index score assessed family responsibilities, recreation, social activities with friends, work and sexual behavior, as well as the five-item participation measure.
Here are four insights:
1. Researchers found the five-item pain disability index associated with all participation measures: Participation Assessment with Recombined Tools–Objective; Late-Life Function and Disability Instrument: Disability Component; Work and Social Adjustment Scale; a global perceived participation scale; employment status; and the Usual Activity domain of the 15D.
2. The yielded correlations support the "construct validity of the five-item PDI as a measure of participation."
3. Further, researchers found a correlation between the Oswestry Disability Index and the five-item pain disability index.
4. The study revealed less association between the five-item pain disability index and depressive symptoms and resilience.
"The results of this study support the construct validity of the 5-Item PDI as a brief measure of participation in people with chronic back pain," concluded the study authors.