The Development of a Korean Pain Assessment Card

Kim, Yong Ik; Kang, Hyung Chang; Jung, Sung Hak; Hwang, Kyung Ho; Ahn, Kee Ryang; Park, Wook

Abstract

BACKGROUND
This study set out to develope and test a measurement tool for pain, with Korean pain descriptors, suitable for use on pain clinic patients. METHODS: The work consisted of three parts; (1) collection of Korean words describing pain, from 519 chronic pain patients, 151 medical students and 45 medical staff, (2) allocation of the pain descriptors into groups, according to the classification of the neurophysiological mechanism, and choosing a representative word, (3) testing for the validity and reliability of the representative words as a Korean pain descriptors. The reliability was assessed in 52 patients, using the Kappa index scores of the same respondents every other week. The validity was assessed in two groups, 52 chronic pain and 49 obstetric patients, using the Chi-Squared test with the pain trend. RESULTS: 174 Korean pain descriptors were collected. Of these, 12 representative words were selected, according to the classification of the neurophysiological mechanism, in 4 categories; for superficial somatic, for deep somatic, for neuropathic, for sympathetic, and for evaluative. There was evidence that the validity of the pain descriptors in the two groups (P < 0.05) and the Kappa indexes for the reliability were significantly associated (P < 0.01). The Korean Pain Assessment Card was divided into 3 parts; pain drawing, pain rating and the temporal changes in the pain and satisfaction rating. CONCLUSIONS: This study produced a valuable measure of self-rated pain suitable for use in pain clinics. This instrument assesses, not only the pain intensity, but the evaluative dimensions of pain.