Development and clinical feasibility testing of the Pain Treatment Planning Questionnaire

Abstract

Abstract Background Chronic pain is common in people with bleeding disorders and can complicate clinical management, impair quality of life, and contribute to disability. People living with bleeding disorders often seek advice on pain management from the bleeding disorder treatment team; however, lack of condition-specific assessment tools to guide clinical communication about pain are a barrier to care. Aims To develop and examine the clinical feasibility of a patient-reported outcome (PRO) tool designed to facilitate pain assessment and support clinical communication about pain for adults attending outpatient bleeding disorder clinics. Methods Tool development involved patient cognitive interviews and item refinement by a multidisciplinary clinician and patient working group. Clinical feasibility of the tool was evaluated with a survey of a small clinical sample in an outpatient bleeding disorder clinic. The Pain Treatment Planning Questionnaire (PTPQ) contains 28 items on the pain experience and treatments used to manage or prevent pain. Results Participants completing the feasibility testing (n=42, 62% male) reported mild mean pain scores (usual pain μ=2.4, SD=2.0) with the majority (57.1%) reporting persistent pain in the past 30 days. Median PTPQ completion time was five to seven minutes and mean item response rate was 95.2%. The majority (95.2%) of participants found the questionnaire easy to understand, reported no difficulty understanding items, and recommended no changes to the questionnaire. Conclusions Preliminary testing among a small sample in a clinical setting suggests that the PTPQ is a clinically feasible, acceptable, condition-specific PRO pain assessment tool for adult patients with bleeding disorders. Further testing is required to determine if the PTPQ affects treatment decision-making and patient outcomes.