A short version of the pain anxiety symptoms scale (PASS-20): Preliminary development and validity

Abstract

Background: Research has shown significant relations between fear and avoidance of pain and the suffering and disability of chronic pain. Effective measurement tools have formed the foundation for studying these relations. Methods: The present article describes the initial development and validation of the PASS-20, a short form version of the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS). Like the original inventory, the PASS-20 measures fear and anxiety responses specific to pain. Items were selected for the short version based on item variance, item intercorrelation and reliability analyses. Results: The PASS-20 shows strong internal consistency, reliability, and good predictive and construct validity. Item reduction appears to result in minimal shrinkage of validity correlations. Conclusions: Overall, the results suggest that the short form retains adequate psychometric properties. Possible research and clinical implications for the PASS-20 include more efficient screening during evaluations of patients with chronic pain, and use when the time or effort needed for the full version is prohibitive.