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How to measure mental pain: a systematic review assessing measures of mental pain.
- Source :
- Evidence-based Mental Health; Nov2022, Vol. 25 Issue 4, pe4-e4, 10p
- Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Question Although mental pain is present in many mental disorders and is a predictor of suicide, it is rarely investigated in research or treated in care. A valid tool to measure it is a necessary first step towards better understanding, predicting and ultimately relieving this pain. Study selection and analysis Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we performed a systematic review to identify all published standardised measures of mental pain. We used qualitative content analysis to evaluate the similarity of each measure, quantified via Jaccard Index scores ranging from no similarity (0) to full similarity (1). Finally, using the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) methodology, we evaluated each measure's development (assessing 35 features), its content validity (31 features) and if the latter was rated at least adequate, its other psychometric properties. Findings We identified 10 self-reported scales of mental pain in 2658 screened studies relying on diverse definitions of this construct. The highest average similarity coefficient for any given measure was 0.24, indicative of weak similarity (individual pairwise coefficients from 0 to 0.5). Little to no information was provided regarding the development and the content validity of all 10 scales. Therefore, their development and content validity were rated 'inadequate' or 'doubtful'. Conclusions and clinical implications There is not enough evidence of validity to recommend using one measure over others in research or clinical practice. Heterogeneous use of disparate measures across studies limits comparison and combination of their results in meta-analyses. Development by all stakeholders (especially patients) of a consensual patient-reported measure for mental pain is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- EXPERIMENTAL design
MEDICAL databases
ONLINE information services
PSYCHOLOGY information storage & retrieval systems
PAIN measurement
MEDICAL information storage & retrieval systems
RESEARCH evaluation
RESEARCH methodology
SYSTEMATIC reviews
SELF-evaluation
PSYCHOMETRICS
MULTITRAIT multimethod techniques
INFORMATION resources
CONTENT analysis
MEDLINE
MENTAL illness
EVALUATION
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13620347
- Volume :
- 25
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Evidence-based Mental Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 161127414
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmental-2021-300350