Principles & Practice of Pain Medicine > Part III. Psychological Evaluation and Treatment of Chronic Pain > Chapter 13. Psychosocial Assessment of Chronic Pain R. Joshua Wootton

The Clinical Interview in Psychosocial Assessment

"Evaluating which psychosocial risk factors may be influential in the life of a patient, as well as how committed that patient is to being an active, cooperative participant in his or her own care, are the objectives of psychosocial assessment in a multidisciplinary setting. The pain physician, like the psychologist, structures his or her time in discussion and examination of the patient, not only in the service of diagnosing pathology, but in an attempt to learn more about the patient's experience and his or her responses to pain and illness. When one or more of the previously discussed psychosocial risk factors is identified as influential in the patient's life, a referral for a more psychosocially based evaluation is indicated. In pain management centers and clinic or hospital-based practices, the psychosocial assessment of patients is usually coordinated by a psychologist, psychiatrist, clinical social worker, or psychiatric nurse practitioner.There are few structured interviews developed specifically for use with the pain patient, but one of the more widely used of these is the Psychosocial Pain Inventory (PSPI).²⁴ This instrument guides the psychologist in gathering information from the patient and a family member through a series of 25 open-ended questions, all reflecting a psychosocial dimension of the patient's experience of pain. The items included in the inventory explore major stressful life events, pain-related stressors, pain behavior at home, previous painful or disabling medical problems, and models of chronic..."