Authors: Lance M. McCracken, Kevin E. Vowles, & Christopher Eccleston

The 20-item CPAQ-revised has been designed to measure acceptance of pain.

The acceptance of chronic pain is thought to reduce unsuccessful attempts to avoid or control pain and thus focus on engaging in valued activities and pursuing meaningful goals.

 
There have been 2 factors identified in the CPAQ-Revised:

(1) Activity engagement (pursuit of life activities regardless of pain). Items – 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 19.

(2) Pain willingness (recognition that avoidance and control are often unworkable methods of adapting to chronic pain). Items – 4, 7, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20.

 
Scoring: The items on the CPAQ are rated on a 7-point scale from 0 (never true) to 6 (always true). To score the CPAQ, add the items for Activity engagement and Pain willingness to obtain a score for each factor. To obtain the total score, add the scores for each factor together. Higher scores indicate higher levels of acceptance

 
Reliability: The CPAQ-Revised demonstrates very good to excellent internal consistency, with alphas of .82 (Activity engagement) and .78 (Pain willingness).

 
Validity: The CPAQ shows moderate to high correlations with measures of avoidance, distress, and daily functioning. The 2 factors of the CPAQ-revised have been found to significantly predict pain-related disability and distress, thus demonstrating predictive validity.

References:

McCraken, L. M., Vowles, K. E. & Eccleston, C. (2004). Acceptance of chronic pain: component analysis and a revised assessment method. Pain, 107, 159-166.

 
McCracken, L. M., Vowles, K. E., & Eccleston, C. (2005). Acceptance-based treatment for persons with complex, long standing chronic pain: a preliminary analysis of treatment outcome in comparison to a waiting phase. Behavior Research and Therapy, 43, 1335-1346.