The Chronic Pain Myth Scale: Development and Validation of a French-Canadian Instrument Measuring Knowledge, Beliefs, and Attitudes of People in the Community towards Chronic Pain
Table 2
Rotated factor matrix of the final version of the CPMS ().
Unvalidated English translation of the 26 items of the French-Canadian CPMS
Factors
1
2
3
(1) [Really have pain, it's not in their head]
,44
,25
−,01
(2) [Just want to be prescribed drugs]
,72
,10
,03
(3) [Seek sick leaves to stop working]
,84
,06
,03
(4) [Just want to laze and do not accomplish their daily tasks]
,83
,14
,06
(5) [Complain of pain to get attention from others]
,79
,06
−,03
(6) [Really want to get better]
,49
,19
−,04
(7) [Complain about their pain, but continue their activities (e.g., sports, snowmobile). Their pain should not be that bad]
,46
,20
,06
(8) [Become dependent to their medications such as drug addicts]
,35
,02
,08
(9) [Often tend to exaggerate the severity of their condition]
,62
,14
,00
(10) [Chronic pain causes several physical symptoms (e.g., muscle tension, change in appetite, reduced mobility, fatigue)]
,33
,46
,11
(11) [Chronic pain can have a direct impact on sexual life]
,20
,43
,08
(12) [People with chronic pain are sometimes rejected by their relatives]
,09
,55
,14
(13) [Chronic pain may be associated with negative emotions (e.g., fear, anger or sadness)]
,14
,49
,08
(14) [People with chronic pain tend not to isolate themselves]
,23
,43
,13
(15) [People with chronic pain usually have more difficulty to resist stressful events of everyday life]
,08
,42
,06
(16) [The risk of death by suicide is higher among people with chronic pain than in the general population]
,08
,52
,03
(17) [Chronic pain costs billions of dollars to our society]
−,08
,40
,14
(18) [People with chronic pain do not always have access to healthcare services to treat their condition]
,16
,44
,09
(19) [Doctors lack time to treat chronic pain].
,06
,42
,07
(20) [Consulting a psychologist is useless unless the person with chronic pain is depressed]
,07
,19
,41
(21) [There is not much to do to improve chronic pain]
,09
,11
,42
(22) [Good sleeping habits help reduce chronic pain]
−,10
,27
,61
(23) [A balanced diet helps to reduce chronic pain]
−,12
,22
,60
(24) [Doing physical exercise may aggravate chronic pain]
,08
,02
,58
(25) [Working may aggravate chronic pain]
,02
−,12
,52
(26) [The treatment of chronic pain is in the hands of health care professionals and not those of the patient]
,06
,26
,42
Eigenvalues before rotation
5.48
3.08
1.86
Percentage of variance explained after rotation
15.47
9.78
7.58
Cronbach’s α (items included in each factor)
0.82
0.74
0.72
Descriptive statistics
Mean score ± SD
39.95 ± 4.32
41.64 ± 4.84
27.25 ± 4.28
Median (range)
41 (17–45)
42 (19–50)
27 (7–35)
Possible scores
9–45
10–50
7–35
% of respondents who achieved the lowest possible score
0.00%
0.00%
0.06%
% of respondents who achieved the highest possible score
15.50%
4.31%
4.50%
Bold type indicates primary factor loading for each item. Factor 1: knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards people suffering from CP. Factor 2: knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards biopsychosocial impacts of CP. Factor 3: knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards treatment of CP. CP: chronic pain; CPMS: Chronic Pain Myth Scale. For publication purposes, an unvalidated English translation of the 26 items of the CPMS is presented. The validated French-Canadian version of the items can be found in the appendix. Cronbach’s = adequate internal consistency for research purposes.
