Psychometric Properties of Beliefs about Pain Control Questionnaire in People with Cancer – Thai Version

Peoples’ belief about pain control is the key factor of effective pain management. Understanding such beliefs about pain control will help healthcare providers deliver appropriate pain management. The Beliefs about Pain Control Questionnaire, developed by Suzanne Skevington, is a popular tool for assessing pain belief. This questionnaire comprises three subscales of an individual’s belief in pain control: internal factors, power of doctors, and by chance events. The purpose of this study was to translate and examine the psychometric properties of this questionnaire. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 155 Thais with cancer to test the questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha was computed for reliability. The confirmatory factor analysis was examined for the factor structure of the questionnaire. The construct validity of the Thai Beliefs about Pain Control Questionnaire was confirmed with remaining the original 13 items with the three-subscale model of internal factors, power of doctors, and pain controlled by chance events. The overall internal consistency reliability (a = 0.74) and each domain had a reliability coefficient of internal factors (a = 0.58), power of doctors (a = 0.75), and by chance events (a = 0.32). In conclusion, the Thai questionnaire version is short and convenient for a self-report questionnaire. Nurses could use the questionnaire to assess people with cancer in clinical settings and design interventions to improve self-efficacy and pain management empowerment. However, further refinements, especially in internal and chance events, are still needed to confirm whether the questionnaire equates with Thai beliefs.