TRANSLATION AND PSYCHOMETRICS OF THE "BEHAVIORAL PAIN SCALE" IN MECHANICALLY VENTILATED PATIENTS IN MEDICAL AND SURGICAL INTENSIVE CARE UNITS

Assessment and management of pain in patients undergoing mechanical
ventilation can be a major challenge for intensive care nurses. Behavioral pain scale (BPS) is one of the
instruments which by using the behavioral indicators, studied pain in these patients. The aim of this
study is to translate and determine the psychometric properties of the BPS.
Materials & Methods: Pain by using BPS at 6 times of before, during, and after nociceptive and nonnociceptive procedures in 60 patients hospitalized in medical and surgical critical care units. In re-test
33 patients studied after 8-12 hours.
Results: Alpha coefficient, 0/749 and the correlation coefficient between two evaluators in different
times were (r = 0/78 – 0/94) was obtained. The correlation coefficient between test-retest was (r = 0/52
– 0/78). Significant differences in pain score between painful and non-painful procedures (p< 0/001),
and higher pain scores in patients who confirm the pain (p< 0/001), revealed good discriminant, and
criterion validities for BPS respectively.
Conclusion: Iranian version of BPS has good and reliable psychometric properties, for pain assessment
in patients hospitalized in medical and surgical of intensive care units which do not have able to
communicate.