Pain catastrophization and assessment: An experimental manipulation of pain catastrophization and its effects on psychoeducational testing

Chronic pain is a pervasive and costly problem (Gaskin & Richard, 2012). It often affects school-age children and adolescents, and can persist into adulthood (Brattberg, 2004). Chronic pain can result in disability, and pain cognitions such as pain catastrophization are large contributors to disability (Crombez, Vlaeyen, Heuts, & Lysens, 1999). The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between pain catastrophization (as measured by the Pain Catastrophization Scale, PCS) and performance on an attention task (the CPT-II), and to determine whether pain catastrophization could be experimentally manipulated. The rumination aspect of pain catastrophization was found to be moderately correlated with variability in response speed on the CPT-II, r(40) =.406, p = .009. A between-groups T-test determined that there was no significant effect for the experimental manipulations, t(48) = 1.21, p = .23.;Keywords: Pain catastrophization, CPT-II, PCS, attention, school, pain.