title: Factorial analysis of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale--Form C for elderly.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pain is a multidimensional experience. Locus of control is an important factor related to chronic pain experience and treatment. There is a gap in the literature when discussing issues related to pain evaluation in elderly.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the factorial structure, intra and inter-rater reliability of the Brazilian version of the Pain Locus of Control Scale - Form C for elderly with chronic pain living in the community.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and eighty one elderly individuals (71.5±6.8 years of age) answered a clinic and social-demographic questionnaire and the PLOC-C scale. A factorial analysis with varimax rotation of the PLOC-C scale was performed. The scalewas applied twice by two observers to evaluate the intra and inter-rater reliability analyzed using Pearson's Correlation Coefficients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The factorial analysis of the 18 item PLOC-C scale revealed six factors. Four items (1 and 6 from the chance locus of control subscale; 2 and 4 from the internal locus of control subscale) migrated toward unpredictable factors in the original factorial structure. Analysis with the removal of the four items demonstrated a better factorial structure and higher levels of internal consistency (α=0.836 and 0.669) and reliability (intra-examiner: r=0.65 and 0.93; inter-examiner: r=0.82 and 0.92) when compared to the complete subscales. The variance explained was of 48.7% for the 18 items and 62.4% for the 14 items scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results demonstrate a better applicability of the reduced scale on the sample. The reduced version may contribute to greater knowledge and consequently better chronic pain management in the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Physical Therapy Department, Escola de Educação Física, Fisioterapia e Terapia Ocupacional, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
authors.forename: Leani S M
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Louise G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Rosana F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Sampaio
authors.forename: João P A
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Haddad
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires