The Pain Disability Index is a tool used for measuring the degree of pain a patient is experiencing. The test is a self-report asking patients to rate how much pain interferes in seven areas of life activity: family/home, recreation, social, occupation, sexual, self-care, life-support, and average. Participants use a 0 (no disability) to 10 (total disability) numeric rating scale. Approximately 5 minutes is required to administer the test.
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Authors
Tait, Chibnall, & Krause, 1990
Reliability and Validity
Evaluation strongly supports the use and reliability of the Pain Disability Index; however, issues dealing with bias and influence on reports have been investigated. Patients had sometimes untruthfully reported their pain to increase their disability. The test-rest reliability of the PDI was .44 and the internal consistency was 0.86 (Cronbach alpha rating), according to studies by Tait, Chibnall, and Krause (1990) using a sample of 444 patients with chronic pain.
Administration, Analysis and Reporting
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References
Chibnall, J. T., & Tait, R. C. (1994). The Pain Disability Index: Factor structure and normative data. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 75, 1082-1086.
Ehde, D. M., Jensen, M. P., Engel, J. M., Joyce, M., Turner, J. A. Hoffman, A. J., & Cardenas, D. D. (2003). Chronic pain secondary to disability: A review. Clinical Journal of Pain, 19(1), 3-17.
Pollard, C. A. (1984). Preliminary validity study of the Pain Disability Index. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 59, 974.
Tait, R. C., Chibnall, J. T., Krause, S. (1990). The pain disability index: Psychometric properties. Pain, 40, 171-182.
Dissertations and Journals
Roach, E. K. (1990). Development of a shoulder pain and disability index.
Ross, M. M. (2009). Elderly recipients of home nursing services: Pain, disability and functional competence (University of Ottawa).
Goldberg, T. R. (1999). Relationship between traumatic events in childhood and chronic pain.