Faces Pain Scale - Revised

This article or area is currently under construction and may only be partially complete. Please come back soon to see the finished work! (22/04/2022)

Objective[edit | edit source]

Assessment of pain in children is particularly complex considering both subjectivity of the pain experience and the limits and variability of children's cognitive and social development[1]. The Faces Pain Scale – Revised (FPS-R) is a measure of pain intensity. It was adapted from the Faces Pain Scale to make it possible to score the sensation of pain on the widely accepted 0-to-10 metric. The scale shows a close linear relationship with visual analogue pain scales (VAS) across the age range of 4-16 years[2]. It is easy to administer.

Intended Population[edit | edit source]

Children older than 4 years old

Method of Use[edit | edit source]

It is a self-report measure of pain intensity, that requires no equipment except for the photocopied faces. The absence of smiles and tears in this scale may be advantageous. It is particularly recommended for use with very young children. The clinician scores the chosen face 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10, counting left to right, so "0" equals "No pain" and "10" equals "Very much pain." Make sure you do not use words like "happy" and '"sad." This scale is intended to measure how children feel inside, not how their face looks.

Evidence[edit | edit source]

Reliability[edit | edit source]

The indices of relative reliability showed a good agreement between the test and retest for the scale, 0.76 (95% CI 0.72-0.80).[3]

Validity[edit | edit source]

Pearson correlations between the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and FPS-R were found to be VAS/FPS-R: r = 0.78 at 60 minutes after medication administration, showing positive and strong correlations[3].

Responsiveness[edit | edit source]

The scale demonstrated a good responsiveness to change in a study[3] that assessed pain score pre and post analgesia administration. The mean pain scores pre-analgesia were SD = 1.82; median: 6.0; IQR: 4.0-6.0 and after analgesic administration, the mean pain scores were SD = 2.31; median: 4.0; IQR: 2.0-6.0. The mean differences in pain scores were significantly lower 60 minutes after the administration of the medication (mean = −1.61, SD = 2.00, P < 0.0001) which suggest a high responsiveness of the scales to pain relief.

Links[edit | edit source]

You can download the tool here for free, International Association For The Study Of Pain

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Emmott AS, West N, Zhou G, Dunsmuir D, Montgomery CJ, Lauder GR, von Baeyer CL. Validity of Simplified Versus Standard Self-Report Measures of Pain Intensity in Preschool-Aged Children Undergoing Venipuncture. J Pain. May 2017;18(5):564-573.
  2. Tsze DS, Hirschfeld G, Dayan PS, Bulloch B, von Baeyer CL. Defining No Pain, Mild, Moderate, and Severe Pain Based on the Faces Pain Scale-Revised and Color Analog Scale in Children With Acute Pain. Pediatric Emergency Care. Aug 2018;34(8):537-544.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Le May S, Ballard A, Khadra C, Gouin S; Plint, A; Villeneuve, E. Comparison of the psychometric properties of 3 pain scales used in the pediatric emergency department: Visual Analogue Scale, Faces Pain Scale-Revised, and Colour Analogue Scale. PAIN. 2018 Aug; 159(8): 1508-1517
This article or area is currently under construction and may only be partially complete. Please come back soon to see the finished work! (22/04/2022)