Abstract

BACKGROUND Successful pain management depends on acknowledgment of barriers that interfere with providing adequate pain relief. However, there are no consensus tools in Persian to identify these barriers. This article presents the psychometric properties of a Persian questionnaire for assessing perceived barriers to manage cancer pain. In this study, we aimed to determine the barriers to achieving optimal pain management, and assess validity and reliability of IR-BQII scale among Iranian patients. Assessment of the barriers in our society using this questionnaire guides effective plans of pain management to bring about more relief and welfare for cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS 170 cancer patients participated in this cross-sectional study. Subjects were either new outpatients or previous outpatients (now hospitalized) who were referred to the oncology clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital (Cancer Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences) in Tehran, Iran. BQII validity was determined by exploratory factor analysis (FA). Reliability and consistency were assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. RESULTS Four factors sufficiently explained the variability in the data: Communication and Psychological Side Effects, Addiction and Fatalism, Physiological Side Effects, and Beliefs about Consciousness Status. Internal reliability was 0.708 based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The internal consistency of the different subscales was within 0.69-0.80. Pain management barriers' score was higher among middle-aged patients. CONCLUSION IR-BQII is a valid and reliable instrument for physicians, nurses and other clinical staff to identify pain management barriers and eliminate or modify them to help ease the pain for cancer patients.