Table 1.
Anchor items, responses, and change classifications by clinical sample
| Disease or Condition | Pain Anchor Text | Responses | Classification | General Health Anchor Text | Responses | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chronic Low Back Pain | “Compared to your first appointment how would you rate your current back pain?” | Much better | Better | “Is your health [(Excellent, Very good, Good, Fair, Poor (5 to 1)]?” | Baseline minus follow-up < 0 | Better |
| Somewhat better | ||||||
| No change | About the same | Baseline minus follow-up = 0 | About the same | |||
| Somewhat worse | Worse | Baseline minus follow-up > 0 | Worse | |||
| Much worse | ||||||
| Cancer | “Since the last time you filled out a questionnaire your level of pain is. . .” | Very much better | Better | “In general, would you say your health is [(Excellent, Very good, Good, Fair, Poor (5 to 1)]?” | Baseline minus follow-up < 0 | Better |
| Moderately better | ||||||
| A little better | Baseline minus follow-up = 0 | About the same | ||||
| About the same | About the same | |||||
| A little worse | Worse | |||||
| Moderately worse | Baseline minus follow-up > 0 | Worse | ||||
| Very much worse | ||||||
| COPD | “How would you rate your pain on average?” (0–10) | Baseline minus follow-up > 0 | Better | “Has there been any change in your overall health since you started the study?” | Very much better | Better |
| Moderately better | ||||||
| Baseline minus follow-up = 0 | About the same | A little better | ||||
| About the same | About the same | |||||
| A little worse | Worse | |||||
| Baseline minus follow-up < 0 | Worse | Moderately worse | ||||
| Very much better | ||||||
| Depression | “When you had back pain, how would you rate your average pain?” (0–10) | Baseline minus follow-up > 0 | Better | “Is your health [(Excellent, Very good, Good, Fair, Poor (5 to 1)]?” | Baseline minus follow-up < 0 | Better |
| Baseline minus follow-up = 0 | About the same | Baseline minus follow-up = 0 | About the same | |||
| Baseline minus follow-up < 0 | Worse | Baseline minus follow-up > 0 | Worse | |||
| Rheumatoid Arthritis | “How has your pain changed?” | Got a lot better | Better | “In general, would you say your ‘current’ health is [(Excellent, Very good, Good, Fair, Poor (5 to 1)]?” | Baseline minus follow-up < 0 | Better |
| Got a little better | ||||||
| Stayed the same | About the same | Baseline minus follow-up > 0 | About the same | |||
| Got a little worse | Worse | Baseline minus follow-up > 0 | Worse | |||
| Got a lot worse |