Clinical Reference

The Pain Catastrophizing Scale: Interpretation and How To Implement Findings

Therapy Insights Member Exclusive
Print Resource — US Letter — 2 pages

Population:

Adult

Discipline:

OTSLP

Diagnosis:

Chronic Pain

References:

  • Sullivan, M. J., Bishop, S. R., & Pivik, J. (1995). The pain catastrophizing scale: Development and validation. Psychological Assessment, 7(4), 524-532.
  • Osman, A., Barrios, F. X., Kopper, B. A., Hauptmann, W., Jones, J., O’Neill, E. (1997). Factor structure, reliability, and validity of the pain catastrophizing scale. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 20 (6), 589-605.
  • Monticone,, M., Portoghese, I., Rocca, B., Giordano, A., Campagna, M., & Franchignoni, F. (2022). Responsiveness and minimal important change of the pain Catastrophizing scale in people with chronic low back pain undergoing multidisciplinary rehabilitation. European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, 58(1).
  • Katz, J., Burns, L., Ritvo, S., Ferguson, M., Clark, H., & Seltzer, Z. (2015). Pain catastrophizing as a risk factor for chronic pain after total knee arthroplasty: A systematic review. Journal of Pain Research, 21.
  • Mallows, A., Debenham, J., Walker, T., & Littlewood, C. (2016). Association of psychological variables and outcome in tendinopathy: A systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 51(9), 743-748.
  • Saracoglu, I., Akin, E., & Aydin Dincer, G. B. (2022). Efficacy of adding pain neuroscience education to a multimodal treatment in fibromyalgia: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases, 25(4), 394-404.
  • Sisco-Taylor, B. L., Magel, J. S., McFadden, M., Greene, T., Shen, J., & Fritz, J. M. (2021). Changes in pain Catastrophizing and fear-avoidance beliefs as mediators of early physical therapy on disability and pain in acute low-back pain: A secondary analysis of a clinical trial. Pain Medicine, 23(6), 1127-1137.
  • Burri, A., Ogata, S., Rice, D., & Williams, F. (2018). Pain catastrophizing, neuroticism, fear of pain, and anxiety: Defining the genetic and environmental factors in a sample of female twins. PLOS ONE, 13(3), e0194562.
  • Simon, E., Zsidó, A. N., Birkás, B., & Csathó, Á. (2022). Pain catastrophizing, pain sensitivity and fear of pain are associated with early life environmental unpredictability: A path model approach. BMC Psychology, 10(1).
  • Javdaneh, N., Saeterbakken, A. H., Shams, A., & Barati, A. H. (2021). Pain neuroscience education combined with therapeutic exercises provides added benefit in the treatment of chronic neck pain. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(16), 8848.
  • Vincent, H. K., George, S. Z., Seay, A. N., Vincent, K. R., & Hurley, R. W. (2014). Resistance exercise, disability, and pain Catastrophizing in obese adults with back pain. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 46(9), 1693-1701.
  • Ikemoto, T., Miki, K., Matsubara, T., & Wakao, N. (2019). Psychological treatment strategy for chronic low back pain. Spine Surgery and Related Research, 3(3), 199-206.
  • Diez, G. G., Anitua, E., Castellanos, N., Vázquez, C., Galindo-Villardón, P., & Alkhraisat, M. H. (2022). The effect of mindfulness on the inflammatory, psychological and biomechanical domains of adult patients with low back pain: A randomized controlled clinical trial. PLOS ONE, 17(11), e0276734.
This resource for clinicians outlines how to use, interpret, and implement findings from the Pain Catastrophizing Scale.
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