The West Haven-Yale MPI was developed to gain the subjective experiences of many aspects of chronic pain (Kerns et al. 1985). The MPI is theoretically linked to the cognitive-behavioural conceptualization of chronic pain, where emphasis is placed on the assessment of subjective distress and the impact of pain on patient’s lives (Kerns et al. 1985). A slightly revised version of the MPI was devised for the SCI population.  It consists of 3 sections: Section 1 (life interference, support, life control, pain severity, affective distress); Section 2 (distracting responses, negative responses, solicitous responses); Section 3 (house-hold activities, activities away from home, social activities, outdoor work).

Number of items: 50

Procedure/Administration: The MPI-SCI is a self-report questionnaire that may be administered by a trained assessor.

How scored: Each item is rated on a 7-point scale (0-6). Scale scores are computed by summing over all items and then the mean is composed based on the number of scale items. A total score is not possible.

Interpretability: Higher ratings may indicate a greater or lesser impact of pain. No information is given regarding norms or meaningful cutoff scores.

Acceptability: The MPI-SCI was developed specifically for use in SCI populations. The questionnaire can be self-completed or done via interview/proxy and is not considered to be a burden to patients.

Languages: The MPI-SCI is only available in English (The MPI is available in Swedish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Japanese)

Usability: N/a

Time to administer:  At least 20 minutes.

Time to score: N/a

Training required: Minimal

Availability: The MPI-SCI questionnaire is available in Widerstrom-Noga et al. (2002).

Equipment required: None

Summary: The emphasis of the MPI-SCI is on the assessment of the subjective distress experienced by patients in terms of pain and suffering and how pain impacts the individual’s life. Although evidence supports the use of the MPI-SCI to assess the impact of chronic pain with SCI populations, more psychometric evidence is needed to warrant its sustained use.

Psychometric Summary:

Note: TR= Test re-test; IC= Internal Consistency;Inter-O=Inter-observer; Intra-O=Intra-observer; SS=Sensitivity/Specificity.

Red light= A single study involving SCI subjects which has less than adequate findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

Yellow light= A single study involving subjects with SCI which has adequate to excellent findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

Green light= At least 2 studies involving subjects with SCI which have adequate to excellent findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

N/a= No information.

References

• Kerns RD, Turk DC, Rudy TE. The West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMPI). Pain 1985; 23: 345-356.
• Widerstrom-Noga EG, Cruz-Almeida Y, Martinez-Arizala A, Turk DC. Internal consistency, stability, and validity of the spinal cord injury version of the multidimensional pain inventory. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2006;87:516-523.
• Widerstrom-Noga EG, Duncan R, Felipe-Cuervo E, Turk DC. Assessment of the impact of pain and impairments associated with spinal cord injuries. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002;83:395-404.