Cognitive Interviewing

Robin H. Ballard, BA; Erin L. Boespflug, BS; Nina Lang, BA; Becky Matter, MA; Joe Skala, MA; Salene Wu, BS; Kathryn M.Yorkston, PhD, BC-NCD; Dagmar Amtmann, PhD

Background:

Many diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis, have been misdiagnosed in the past because doctors can’t understand their patients’ symptoms. Sometimes patients receive an incorrect diagnosed of pain because doctors and researchers cannot feel what their patients feel, and have a hard time diagnosing pain symptoms. Therefore, the best way to measure pain is through patients’ descriptions of what they experience.

Goal:

The goal of this study was to improve questions used to measure pain so that people have a better way to communicate their pain to doctors and researchers.

The Study:

Forty-four adults with disabilities or ongoing health problems participated in interviews in which they answered 23 to 29 questions about their own pain. Interviewers then asked the participants about each of the questions to understand why participants answered the questions the way they did. This process was used to identify which questions had problems such as questions that were not clear to participants.

Results and Conclusions:

The participant’s comments were used to change questions on the survey. The final improved survey was taken by over 20 thousand people. If researchers and doctors use these improved questionnaires, they could potentially better diagnosis illnesses and health conditions, or improve a patient’s ability to manage their pain.