Development and Validation of a Chronic Pain Mental Well-Being Scale for Filipinos: A Basis for the Assessment and Well-Being Program for People with Chronic Pain

Chronic pain affects 10.4% of the general population in the Philippines, yet scales used to measure the well-being of patients are derived from Western practice. This study developed and validated the Chronic Pain Mental Well-Being Scale for Filipinos to bridge the gap between culturally appropriate tools and measure the well-being of chronic pain patients. Data was collected from 100 Filipinos who have been experiencing chronic pain for at least six months. After exploratory factor analysis, results showed that three factors namely biological, psychosocial, and cultural domains affect mental well-being of patients related to chronic pain. This scale is divided into three categories namely Biological, Psychosocial, and Cultural Domains. The biological factors focused on the physical aspects of chronic pain including pain intensity, physical functioning, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and medication use. The psychosocial factor which includes the emotional and cognitive aspects of mental well-being to chronic pain. It includes pain catastrophizing, emotional resilience, coping strategies, mental health symptoms, and self-efficacy. Moreover, it also added the social perceptions of chronic pain sufferers to pain. The cultural domain aims to measure the cultural dynamics and relationships of patients that are uniquely Filipino and modeled from Enriquez’ Kapwa framework of hiya and pakikisama .