Validation of the Croatian Pain Catastrophizing Scale through a study on the influence of medical education on pain catastrophizing

Background and Purpose: Pain catastrophizing is an important risk factor for pain and pain-related outcomes. There is no validated Croatian version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), the most commonly used questionnaire for assessment of pain catastrophizing. The aims of this study were to validate the Croatian version of the PCS and to study whether formal medical education has correlation with pain catastrophizing. Participants and Methods: Translation and back-translation of the original English version of the PCS to Croatian language was made. The Croatian Pain Catastrophizing Scale (Cro-PCS) was given to 521 healthy students from first and last year of medicine and economics. Results: The Cro-PCS showed the same 3-factor structure (rumination, magnification and helplessness) as the original study. It also showed appropriate internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.88). When compared to students of economics, last-year medical students had significantly lower rumination score, which accounts for the largest proportion of pain catastrophizing variance. Conclusions: The Croatian version of PCS shows appropriate psychometric properties, similar to the English original scale. Therefore, Cro-PCS could be useful for clinical practice and research in Croatian patients. We also found that medical education may be linked with reduction in pain catastrophizing, which contributes to our understanding of effectiveness of educational interventions.