Spanish version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale: psychometric study in healthy women

Catastrophizing plays an important role in pain experience in both chronic pain patients and healthy people. The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) is a widely used instrument to assess this characteristic, although it has not been validated for the Spanish general population. Given that women tend to catastrophize more than men, it is especially relevant to assess this characteristic in women. This study aimed to analyze the structure, reliability and validity of the PCS in a sample of 312 healthy women. Exploratory factor analysis of the PCS did not confirm the three-factor structure of the original version but identified a structure with two factors (Rumination and Magnification-Helplessness). According to the confirmatory factor analysis, this two-factor structure is the most appropriate. Both the PCS and the shortened version (PCS-9) have adequate internal consistency, convergent validity and classification capacity. The optimal cut-off points are score 11 in the PCS and score 8 in the PCS-9. Practical implications of these findings and guidelines for future studies are discussed.