Abstract

• The main purpose of this study is to develop a ratio scale measuring level of pain using Korean pain terms. The specific purposes of this study are to identify the degree of pain of each pain term in each subclass; to classify each subclass in terms of dimensions of pain; and to analyze factors of the Korean pain ratio scale clustering together. One hundred and fifty eight pain terms which were originally identified as representative terms and their synonyms were used for data collection. Fifty eight nursing professors and sixty one medical doctors who have contacted with patients having pain were asked to rate the weight of each pain term on a visual analogue scale. Subclasses in which ranks of pain terms were same as findings in two previous studies were 1) thermal pain 2) cavity pressure, 3) single stimulating pain, 4) radiation pain. and 5) chemical pain. Subclasses in which ranks of pain terms were confused were 1) incisive pressure, and 2) cold pain. Subclasses in which one new pain term was added were 1) inflammatory-repeated pain, 2) punctuate pressure, 3) constrictive pressure, 4) fatigue-related pressure, and 5) suffering-related pain. Subclasses in which two new pain terms were added were 1) traction pressure, 2) peripheral nerve pain, 3) dull pain, 4) pulsation-related pain, 5) digestion-related pain. Subclass in which 3 new pain terms were included was fear-related pain. Rating scores of 5 words in 4 subclasses were significantly different between the normal group and the extreme group of subjects in terms of subjective rating. Only one word among 5 words was that newly added to the scale. Rating scores of 12 words in 9 subclasses were significantly different between doctor group and nursing professor group. Among these 12 words, only 3 were those newly added to the scale. In comparison of these 12 words, mean scores of the nursing professors were always 7 to 16 points higher than those of the medical doctors. In the analysis of judgement of subjects in terms of dimensions of pain terms, subclasses of dull pain, cavity pressure, tract pain and cold pain were suggested to be included in the miscellaneous dimension. As a result of factor analysis of the ratings given to 96 pain words using principal components analysis without iteration and with varimax rotation limiting the number of factors to 4, factors of severe pain(factor I) mild-moderate pain(factor II), causative pain(factor III) and temperature-related pain(factor IV) were extracted with the factor loading above 0.388. When the pain words were rearranged on the bases of factor loading above 0.368, number of factors decreased to only first two factors. Maximum score of pain word in factor II was 46.17 and the minimum score of the factor 1 was 45.36. Further studies are needed to identify the validity, reliability, sensitivity and practicability of this ratio scale using patients having various sources of pain.

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