Cultural adaptation of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool in Turkish children with cancer

Pain is very common among pediatric cancers. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool (APPT). In this methodological study, language validity and content validity of the words in the third section of the scale, which was administered to children with cancer, were tested using the Q-sort method. The APPT was used to measure test-retest reliability once for each of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd weeks of the chemotherapy protocols for 30 children. A reliability test was conducted using the APPT for 96 children with cancer. The number of words included in the third section of the APPT was reduced to 56 following the completion of the language and content validity using the Q-sort method. In the test-retest method, results from the three measures taken showed that the intra-class correlation coefficient was good. The internal consistency of the scale was also good (α = .78) in terms of the total number of body areas marked on body outline diagram, pain severity, pain intensity ratings, total number of word descriptors, and total number of sensory, affective, evaluative and temporal word descriptors. Correlations were found between the total number of body areas marked on the body outline diagram and the total number of word descriptors (r = .53), the pain severity and pain intensity ratings (r = .95), and the total number of word descriptors (r = .38). The Turkish version of the APPT was determined to be valid, reliable and easy to use for pediatric cancer patients. •The Turkish version of the APPT is a reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of pain in children with cancer.•With the Q-sort method, the words that the Turkish children were capable of understanding were identified.•The intra-class correlation coefficient showed moderate-good reliability.•Correlations were found between the pain location, severity, pain intensity ratings and total number of word descriptors.