Preliminary validation of a German version of pain stages of change questionnaire.

This study describes the development of the German questionnaire FF-STABS (Freiburg Questionnaire--Stages of Chronic Pain Management), which documents the willingness of chronic pain patients to use cognitive-behavioural methods for pain management independently. The newly constructed assessment instrument, modified from a similar instrument developed by Kerns and his colleagues, was administered to a heterogeneous sample of 118 chronic pain patients. Item and factor analysis support the identification of four reliable scales: precontemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. All scales evidenced sufficient indices of reliability and discriminant validity. Deviations from the original American version and suggestions for future refinements in the new measure are discussed. Copyright 2002 European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain