Table 2:
Percent Agreement and Means for Pain Beliefs Items
| Pain Belief/Attitude | % Endorsing Somewhat or Completely Agree | Mean (SD)1 | Item |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fatalistic subscale | |||
| One should expect to have pain by the time you get to be in your 80’s or 90’s. | 66% | 3.61 (1.58) | 1 |
| I don’t believe there is any treatment that can make my pain better. | 30% | 2.42 (1.54) | 5 |
| Once you develop a pain problem it will only get worse. | 39% | 2.76 (1.58) | 12 |
| The best strategy for dealing with pain is to simply accept it as part of your life. | 57% | 3.23 (1.74) | 13 |
| Physical subscale | |||
| General exercise is a good strategy for relieving pain. | 93% | 4.57 (0.97) | 2 |
| Physicians should educate patients about safe ways to exercise as a means of managing pain. | 92% | 4.57 (0.94) | 6 |
| Avoiding physical activity is a good way to reduce pain. | 23% | 2.04 (1.48) | 8 |
| Pharmacologic subscale | |||
| Pain medications are dangerous. | 66% | 3.64 (1.46) | 3 |
| Taking pain medication is the best way to reduce pain. | 44% | 2.84 (1.58) | 7 |
| I know someone who has been harmed because of taking a pain medication. | 42% | 2.83 (1.81) | 9 |
| I take as little pain medicine as possible because they are addictive. | 73% | 3.98 (1.50) | 11 |
| I take pain medication infrequently because if you take them too often, they stop being effective. | 63% | 3.64 (1.65) | 16 |
| Psychological subscale | |||
| Using relaxation techniques helps to take my mind off of the pain. | 79% | 4.08 (1.30) | 4 |
| Pain can be reduced by focusing the mind on other things. | 81% | 4.14 (1.17) | 10 |
| When I am relaxed, I feel less pain. | 83% | 4.26 (1.20) | 14 |
| Physicians should educate patients about ways to use relaxation to help reduce pain. | 88% | 4.48 (.99) | 15 |
1
Each mean represents agreement on a scale of 1–5, with 1 representing completely disagree and 5 representing completely agree.