Summary

What it measures:

The Pain Stages of Change Questionnaire (PSOCQ) measures an individual’s willingness to adopt a self-management plan to control their chronic pain. It consists of 30 items inquiring about the patient’s or client’s awareness of pain, issues it causes, and the readiness and willingness to make lifestyle changes in order to cope with pain. (1) Development of the PSOCQ was inspired by a health behavior change model. (2) The PSOCQ is divided into 4 main stages: precontemplation, contemplation, action, and maintenance. This tool is used to assess adults and adolescents who have chronic pain. An adolescent version, the PSOCQ-A, was designed to specifically assess adolescents’ willingness to control their chronic pain. (3)

Target Population:

This summary contains information on use of the PSOCQ in adults and adolescents with chronic pain. It evaluates patients with any condition causing chronic pain. Chronic pain, as defined in a 2005 clinical practice guideline, is "pain without biological value that has persisted beyond the normal time and despite the usual customary efforts to diagnose and treat the original condition and injury." (4)

Information on both the PSOCQ and the PSOCQ-A are included in this summary.