Revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire (APS-POQ-R) for quality improvement of pain management in hospitalized adults: preliminary psychometric evaluation.
Quality improvement (QI) is a compilation of methods adapted from psychology, statistics, and operations research to identify factors that contribute to poor treatment outcomes and to design solutions for improvement. Valid and reliable measurement is essential to QI using rigorously developed and tested instruments. The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution of the American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire (APS-POQ) for QI purposes and present a revised version (R) including instrument psychometrics. An interdisciplinary task force of the APS used a step-wise, empiric approach to revise, test, and examine psychometric properties of the society's original POQ. The APS-POQ-R is designed for use in adult hospital pain management QI activities and measures 6 aspects of quality, including (1) pain severity and relief; (2) impact of pain on activity, sleep, and negative emotions; (3) side effects of treatment; (4) helpfulness of information about pain treatment; (5) ability to participate in pain treatment decisions; and (6) use of nonpharmacological strategies. Adult medical-surgical inpatients (n = 299) from 2 hospitals in different parts of the United States participated in this study. Results provide support for the internal consistency of the instrument subscales, construct validity and clinical feasibility.


CONCLUSIONS
This article presents the initial psychometric properties of the APS-POQ-R for quality improvement purposes of hospitalized adult patients. Validation in additional groups of patients will be needed to demonstrate its generalizability.
Gordon
Debra B
DB
Department of Nursing Practice Innovations, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, Wisconsin 53792, USA. dgordon@uwhealth.org
Polomano
Rosemary C
RC
Pellino
Teresa A
TA
Turk
Dennis C
DC
McCracken
Lance M
LM
Sherwood
Gwen
G
Paice
Judith A
JA
Wallace
Mark S
MS
Strassels
Scott A
SA
Farrar
John T
JT
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D010148:Intractable Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D012955:Societies, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States