SMS pain diary: a method for real-time data capture of recurrent pain in childhood.
OBJECTIVE
To capture recurrent pain in children aged 9-15 years reported by short message service (SMS) and to test the compliance of such reporting in a pilot study.


METHODS
After instructions, 15 children reported their pain six times a day on SMS for a week and the compatibility of the reporting was evaluated. The pain was expressed and reported on three variables: intensity captured using a numeric rating scale (NRS-11), duration in minutes and a verbal pain-related disability scale with six alternatives (0-5). The validity of this scale was tested in 37 children, and the reliability in a test-retest procedure in 20 children.


RESULTS
Good compliance reporting the three variables intensity and duration of pain as well as pain-related disability on SMS was indicated. Support for construct validity and reliability of the verbal instrument for pain-related disability was achieved.


CONCLUSIONS
The study supports the hypothesis that pain experience expressed as intensity, duration and pain-related disability can be captured in real time by SMS in an inexpensive and compliant way in children aged 9-15 years. Validity and reliability was indicated for the constructed verbal pain-related disability scale. Further studies are needed to further confirm these findings.
Alfvén
Gösta
G
CLINTEC Department, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. gosta.alfven@karolinska.se
D000293:Adolescent; D040421:Cell Phone; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index