Cognitive Symptom Management

When you are feeling down in the dumps, feeling pain, or having other unpleasant symptoms, how often do you do the following: (please circle one number for each question)

     Never    Almost Never Sometimes Fairly Often Very Often Always
1.   Try to feel distant form the discomfort and pretend that it is not part of your body?
0
1
2
3
4
5
2.   Don't think of it as discomfort but as some other sensation, like a warm, numb feeling?
0
1
2
3
4
5
3.   Play mental games or sing songs to keep your mind off of the discomfort?
0
1
2
3
4
5
4.   Practice progressive muscle relaxation?
0
1
2
3
4
5
5.   Practice visualization or guided imagery, such as picturing yourself somewhere else?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6.   Talk to yourself in a positive way.
0
1
2
3
4
5

Scoring

Score the number circled for each item. If more than one consecutive number is circled, score as the lower number (less management). If the numbers are not consecutive, do not score the item. The scale score is the mean of the six items. If more than two items are missing answers, set the value of the score for this scale to missing. Scores range from 0 to 5, with a higher score indicating more practice of these techniques.

Characteristics

Tested on 1129 subjects with chronic disease. N=51 for test-retest.

No. of
items
Observed
Range

Mean
Standard
Deviation
Internal Consistency
Reliability
Test-Retest
Reliability
6
0-5
1.33
.91
.75
.83

Source of Psychometric Data

Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Study. Psychometrics reported in: Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, González V, Laurent D, & Lynch J, Outcome Measures for Health Education and other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1996, pp.24,38.

Comments

This scale was modified from the Medical Outcomes Study. This is a behavior change scale to find out if people are practicing any cognitive stress reduction (pain reduction) techniques. We chose to measure these specific techniques as they are the ones we teach in our Chronic Disease Self-Management Program. Reprinted with permission, Duke University Press.

References

Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, González V, Laurent D, & Lynch J, Outcome Measures for Health Education and other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1996, pp.24,38

Stewart AL, Hays RD, & Ware JE, Health Perceptions, energy/fatigue, and health distress measures, in Stewart AL & Ware JE, Measuring Functioning and Well-Being: The Medical Outcomes Study Approach. Durham NC: Duke University Press, pp. 143-172.

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