Development of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire 24, a Clinically Utilitarian Version of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire.

Objective: To use principal-components analysis to obtain a shorter and therefore more clinically useful version of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ). Subjects: A British sample of 214 chronic back pain patients attending outpatient spinal assessment. Results: A 4-factor solution was discovered that incorporates Catastrophizing, Diversion, Cognitive Coping, and Reinterpreting factors. Apart from the absence of a Praying and Hoping factor, this solution is similar to those previously found by researchers in this field. Conclusions: The new questionnaire (the CSQ24) is a valid utilitarian version of the CSQ that is easy to score and is appropriate for clinical use. In recent years, the effective management of chronic musculo-skeletal pain, especially chronic low back pain (CLBP), has be-come a topical area of research. This is primarily because of a significant increase in the number of people seeking treatment for this condition (Clinical Standards Advisory Group, 1994) and a realization that the majority of common treatment options are unsuccessful (Barton, 2000; Clinical Standards Advisory Group, 1994; Evans & Richards, 1996). Specifically, the observation that