Objective: To assess the reliability of an augmented SF-36 instrument, the Treatment Outcomes in Pain Survey ("TOPS"), in patients treated in two pain management programs, and present norms for initial values and treatment-related improvements.
Design: Prospective case series at two sites with longitudinal follow-up.
Setting: Multidisciplinary, comprehensive outpatient pain treatment centers in university hospitals in Salt Lake City and Boston.
Patients: Nine hundred and forty seven adult outpatients with a range of socioeconomic, demographic, and ethnic characteristics, all referred for evaluation and treatment of chronic pain.
Interventions: Usual practice multidisciplinary pain treatment.
Outcomes measures: TOPS prior to pain treatment and 5-week nominal follow-up. Means and standard deviations of baseline and follow-up results. Psychometric results for reliability (Cronbach alpha), validity (item discriminant validity, validity coefficients), and related statistical precision measures for group and individual designs.
Results: Several measures were precise enough to permit following individual patients in standard clinic treatment, of which the Total Pain Experience dimension was the most powerful. Similar psychometrics were observed in the Boston and Salt Lake City sites. The Pain Symptom, Objective Family/Social Disability, Objective Work Disability, and Upper Body Functional Limitations scales were validated.
Discussion: The TOPS was designed to satisfy several models of clinical pain treatment. It successfully monitored treatment based on those models. Not all patients improve with treatment, but most do. The TOPS can be administered in a variety of ways, but we found paper and pencil administration with computer scanning of results quick and efficient for making the data available to clinicians as part of treatment.
Conclusions: The accuracy of the TOPS is sufficient to monitor the response of individual patients during multidisciplinary treatment of chronic pain. The TOPS provides needed documentation (e.g., to third-party payors) of the aggregate value of multidisciplinary outpatient treatment of chronic pain as well as its benefit for individual patients.