Brief Pain Inventory (BPI): The BPI is a comprehensive self-report questionnaire to assess pain management
in 5 dimensions: pain intensity, analgesic intake, pain
alleviation, pain location and pain interference with
functioning [22]. Pain intensity, i.e. average, least and
worst pain, and pain right now, are each measured on a 0
(none) to 10 (worst imaginable pain) NRS. Around-the-
clock and as-needed medication taken in the last 48
hours will be listed by the patient. Patients will rate the
alleviation that they obtained from this medication on a 0
(no alleviation) to 100 (complete alleviation) scale. Patients will be asked to draw the location of their pain by
shading the affected areas of their body on a body map.
In addition, they will be asked to make a cross on the
most affected body part. Pain interference with functioning is a 7-item scale in which patients are asked to evaluate how pain has interfered with a variety of activities
during the past week using a scale from 0 (does not interfere) to 10 (completely interferes). Scores on the individual items will be summed and divided by 7 to obtain a
total interference score that ranges from 0 to 10. The BPI
has established validity and reliability [23]. The α reliability for the scale ranges from 0.91 to 0.95 [22].
Main symptom and side-effects of pain and cancer
treatment: In the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale
(MSAS), patients report the presence of 32 symptoms.
The checklist has been developed for cancer patients by
Portenoy et al. [24] Symptom occurrence (i.e. frequency