A psychometric study in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Pain Catastrophizing Scale-Child (PCS-C)- Turkish

The research aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Turkish Pain Catastrophizing Scale-Child (PCS-CTr) in children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). The study included 125 children (75 with JIA and 50 without JIA). PCS-CTr has been adapted following international translation steps. PCS-CTr was administered twice to 31 children with JIA at 7–14-day intervals. Validity was tested by confirmatory factor analysis and gold standard measures with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and the Visual Analogue Scale. Cronbach’s alpha (α) for internal consistency and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for test–retest reliability were used. Also, the PCS-CTr scores were compared to each group. Construct (RMSEA = 0.069, CFI = 0.962, TLI = 0.943, X2/df = 1.352) and concurrent validity (r=-0.533) were found good. The final model fits three factors with 13 items. Cronbach’s α (0.706–0.912) and ICC values (0.649–0.900) were moderate to high. The psychometric quality of the PCS-CTr is good. A reliable and valid assessment tool could be used for children with JIA to assess pain catastrophizing. We recommend the PCS-CTr as a tool for assessing JIA children’s pain catastrophizing.