The pain vigilance and awareness questionnaire (PVAQ): further psychometric evaluation in fibromyalgia and other chronic pain syndromes
Abstract
In chronic pain patients, preoccupation with or attention to pain is associated with pain-related fear and perceived pain severity. The current study investigated psychometric properties of the pain vigilance and awareness questionnaire (PVAQ). An exploratory factor analysis on Dutch fibromyalgia patients indicated that a two-factor solution was most suitable. The first factor could be referred to as attention to pain and the second factor was interpreted as attention to changes in pain. A confirmatory factor analysis, testing three different factor structures in two independent samples (Dutch fibromyalgia patients and American pain patients with various diagnoses) showed that the goodness-of-fit indicators for all models were satisfactory. The existence of the previously reported intrusion subscale of the PVAQ as a unique construct within the PVAQ was discussed. This subscale should be further extended by non-reverse-keyed items. With regard to the convergent validity, the PVAQ was highly correlated with related constructs such as the pain catastrophizing scale (PCS), pain anxiety symptoms scale (PASS), and Tampa scale of kinesiophobia (TSK). The attention to pain subscale was significantly stronger associated with these pain-related measures than the attention to changes in pain subscale, indicating that attention to changes in pain is a distinctive construct. The uniqueness of the attention to changes in pain subscale was also supported by an exploratory factor analysis on…
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The PVAQ factor solution was similar to the results of Roelofs et al.
“The results were similar to the results of Roelofs et al29”
From A Contextual Analysis of Attention to Chronic Pain: What the Patient Does With Their Pain Might Be More Important Than Their Awareness or Vigilance Alone (2007) · cites this paper as [29]
Additional study supports the psychometric properties of the PVAQ and suggests that it includes 2 underlying factors.
“Additional study also supports the psychometric properties of the PVAQ and suggests that it includes 2 underlying factors.”
From A Contextual Analysis of Attention to Chronic Pain: What the Patient Does With Their Pain Might Be More Important Than Their Awareness or Vigilance Alone (2007) · cites this paper as [29]
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- Authors
- Roelofs, J., Peters, M. L., McCracken, L., & Vlaeyen, J. W. S.
- Affiliations
- Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (GB)
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Roelofs, Jeffrey
- Venue
- Pain
- Published
- 2003-02
- Volume
- 101
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 299-306
- ISSN
- 0304-3959 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2089089460
- Cited by
- 327
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 4.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Pain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Keywords
- attention to pain, pain vigilance, pain awareness, fibromyalgia, chronic pain syndromes, psychometric properties, factor structure, pain catastrophizing, pain-related anxiety, kinesiophobia, convergent validity
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Arousal, Awareness, Chronic Disease, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Fibromyalgia, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pain, Pain Measurement, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reproducibility of Results, Program Evaluation
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