The following is a summary of “Comprehensive and Efficient Assessment of Psychological Flexibility in the Context of Chronic Pain,” published in the January 2025 issue of Pain by Lavefjord et al. 

The Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI) assesses psychological flexibility and inflexibility, which are key processes in chronic pain treatment that might considered too lengthy in some contexts.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to validate a short form of the MPFI (MPFI-24P) in a chronic pain sample.  

They recruited 404 adults with chronic pain online for a cross-sectional survey. Participants first completed pain background questions and the MPFI. To assess convergent construct validity and explain variance in pain-related outcomes, they also completed the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Pain Interference Scale, the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a depression measure. Data were collected on 2 occasions, 2 weeks apart. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Item response theory (IRT) were used to select the best-performing items.  

The results showed that IRT parameters were adequate overall, and hierarchical CFA demonstrated good model fit. The network analysis revealed strong interconnection between items measuring the same facets, particularly for inflexibility items. Temporal stability was adequate, and internal consistency was good. The MPFI-24P correlated with pain interference, work and social adjustment, and depression, with the inflexibility scale being a better predictor. The MPFI-24P showed a strong correlation with the full-length MPFI.  

Investigators concluded the MPFI-24P demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability for assessing psychological flexibility and inflexibility in individuals with chronic pain, particularly for the inflexibility subscale, and exhibited comparable performance to the full-length MPFI. 

 Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejp.4781