Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ)
What It Measures
The PSEQ asks a question that sounds simple but predicts a great deal: how confident are you that you could do this, despite the pain? Not whether the person is doing it, and not how much it hurts — whether they believe they could.
Ten statements cover the range of ordinary life: enjoying things, doing household chores, socialising, coping in most situations, doing some form of work, keeping up hobbies, coping without medication, accomplishing life goals, living a normal lifestyle, and gradually becoming more active. Each is rated 0 for not at all confident to 6 for completely confident, summing to a total out of 60. Higher scores mean stronger self-efficacy.
Further Reading
Additional Notes
Licensing Notes: The questionnaire is reproduced without restriction across clinical resources, workers' compensation boards, and trial protocols.
Learn More: 40 or above is considered high, 16 or below is low. Reported minimal clinically important difference in chronic low back pain is about 5.5 points.
