Abstract
Abstract. The main objective of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Faces Pain Scale (FPS) as a measure of pain intensity for use with elderly Spanish individuals. Results of the Spanish version of this scale (FPS-S) are similar to those obtained with the original instrument. To determine the validity, reliability, and scaling properties of the FPS-S, we used rating and ranking procedures, placement tasks, and test-retest methods. Response to six Likert-type items indicated that subjects agreed that the FPS-S represents pain. Rank ordering tasks for the individual faces demonstrated almost perfect agreement between the expected ranking and the ranking produced by the subjects (Kendall's W = 0.99, p < .001). Moreover, the separation of the faces in the anticipated equal interval position was statistically significant when the faces were positioned along a 1-m-long wedge (to indicate the amount of pain represented by each face) either individually or simultaneously. Finally, the FPS-S has proved to have good reliability properties (Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.91, p < .01). This study shows preliminary support for the construct validity, as well as strong test-retest reliability, and ordinal properties of the FPS-S.
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