Cancer patients' barriers to pain management and psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Barriers Questionnaire II

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of caring sciences 2009-09, Vol.23 (3), p.518-528
• Main Authors: Valeberg, Berit Taraldsen, Hanestad, Berit Rokne, Klepstad, Pål, Miaskowski, Christine, Moum, Torbjørn, Rustøen, Tone
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; attitudinal barriers; Barriers Questionnaire; cancer pain' psychometric properties; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasms - complications; Norway; Nursing; Pain Management - methods; Psychometrics; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0283-9318; 1471-6712
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2008.00639.x

The Barriers Questionnaire II (BQ‐II) was developed to assess barriers to effective pain management. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BQ‐II in a sample of Norwegian cancer patients. The BQ‐II was translated into Norwegian and pilot tested with eight oncology outpatients. Then, a convenience sample of 321 cancer patients from two different sites was recruited to maximize the number of questionnaires available for the psychometric analyses. Patients were included if they: were >18 years of age; had a diagnosis of cancer; and self‐reported pain and/or use of analgesics. Construct validity of the Norwegian version of the BQ II (NBQ‐II) was evaluated using an exploratory factor analysis. A seven‐factor solution was found that was more consistent with the original version of the BQ. Construct validity of the NBQ‐II was demonstrated through positive correlations between most of the subscale and total scores on the NBQ‐II and pain intensity and pain interference scores. Finally, Cronbach’s α coefficients of ≥0.7 for six of the seven subscales and 0.89 for the total scale demonstrated acceptable levels of internal consistency. In conclusion, the NBQ‐II demonstrated adequate psychometric properties. However, further revision and testing of the questionnaire should be performed to confirm the factor structure that was identified in this study.