Background. Pain, being a factor of biological and psychosocial threat, may disrupt realization of life aims and it may make fulfillment of adolescent’s needs impossible. Many researchers consider adolescence to be a special phase in individual’s development. Therefore, reliable assessment of pain experiences and their treatment in this patient group becomes very important. The aim of this work was to compare and assess whether the following scales: analogue-visual scale (VAS), numeric rating scale (NRS) and the verbal scale from Melzack’s Questionnaire, are equivalent and can be used for pain intensity assessment in adolescents interchangeably.
Material and methods. 124 adolescents, aged 14 to 20, hospitalized because of cancer and youth idiopathic arthritis, participated in the study. Intensity of experienced pain was measured with analogue-visual scale VAS, numerical scale NRS and the verbal scale. Compatibility of VAS and NRS scales was presented with Person’s correlation factor r, and compatibility of VAS and the verbal scale was presented with Spearman’s rank coefficient and gamma coefficient.
Results. Results confirm the thesis that correlation between VAS and NRS scales shows strong relation, and therefore these scales are equivalent in pain intensity assessment. However, VAS and the verbal scales correlate, but only in those group of patients were high intensity of pain is observed, and no correlation was found in remaining groups. Obtained results, especially those for the verbal scale, need further investigation and verification.
Conclusions. NRS and VAS scale can be used for pain intensity status in adolescents interchangeably. Assessment of usefulness of the verbal scale needs further investigation and verification.