BACKGROUND The factor structure of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) has rarely been adequately analyzed (e.g., performing principal component analyses rather than factorial approximations). We aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PCS through a variety of exploratory and confirmatory factorial approaches. METHOD Three hundred ninety-four Chilean patients with musculoskeletal pain were included (age, M = 49.61, SD = 18.00; 71.57% women). Eight factorial models were proposed to analyze the structure of the data. In addition, validity evidence of the PCS based on relationships with other variables were analyzed considering pain intensity and kinesiophobia. RESULTS The results suggest a unidimensional structure. Models with more than one dimension exhibited undesirable factor loadings or inadequate indices of fit. Based on these results, a short version of the scale composed of 4 items is proposed (PCS-4). The PCS-4 scores demonstrated high levels of invariance between sex, chronicity, and education groups and also were associated with pain and kinesiophobia. CONCLUSIONS The results of the PCS-4 Spanish version showed evidence of reliability and validity for adequately measuring pain catastrophizing in Chileans who suffer from musculoskeletal pain. The PCS-4 is a short form that should be explored in future studies (e.g., in other Spanish-speaking populations).

中文翻译：

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肌肉骨骼疼痛患者的 PCS 和 PCS-4 的心理测量学特性。

背景疼痛灾难化量表（PCS）的因子结构很少被充分分析（例如，执行主成分分析而不是因子近似）。我们旨在通过各种探索性和验证性因子方法来评估 PCS 的心理测量特性。方法 包括 394 名智利肌肉骨骼疼痛患者（年龄，M = 49.61，SD = 18.00；71.57% 为女性）。提出了八种因子模型来分析数据的结构。此外，考虑到疼痛强度和运动恐惧症，分析了基于与其他变量关系的 PCS 的有效性证据。结果 结果表明存在一维结构。具有多于一维的模型表现出不良的因子载荷或拟合指数不足。基于这些结果，提出了一个由 4 个项目组成的简短版本的量表 (PCS-4)。PCS-4 分数表明性别、慢性和教育群体之间的高度不变性，并且还与疼痛和运动恐惧症有关。结论 PCS-4 西班牙语版本的结果显示了充分测量患有肌肉骨骼疼痛的智利人灾难性疼痛的可靠性和有效性的证据。PCS-4 是一种简短的形式，应该在未来的研究中进行探索（例如，在其他讲西班牙语的人群中）。结论 PCS-4 西班牙语版本的结果显示了充分测量患有肌肉骨骼疼痛的智利人灾难性疼痛的可靠性和有效性的证据。PCS-4 是一种简短的形式，应该在未来的研究中进行探索（例如，在其他讲西班牙语的人群中）。结论 PCS-4 西班牙语版本的结果显示了充分测量患有肌肉骨骼疼痛的智利人灾难性疼痛的可靠性和有效性的证据。PCS-4 是一种简短的形式，应该在未来的研究中进行探索（例如，在其他讲西班牙语的人群中）。