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Assessing Multisensory Sensitivity Across Scales: Using the Resulting Core Factors to Create the Multisensory Amplification Scale
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Assessing Multisensory Sensitivity Across Scales: Using the Resulting Core Factors to Create the Multisensory Amplification Scale

Dan Wang, Sabrina Casares, Karen Eilers, Shannon Hitchcock, Ryan Iverson, Ethan Lahn, Megan Loux, Colton Schnetzer and Laura A. Frey-Law
The journal of pain, Vol.23(2), pp.276-288
02/01/2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2021.07.013
PMID: 34461307
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/11065416View
Open Access

Abstract

Multisensory sensitivity (MSS), observed in some chronic pain patients, may reflect a gener-alized central nervous system sensitivity. While several surveys measure aspects of MSS, there remains no gold standard. We explored the underlying constructs of 4 MSS-related surveys (80 items in total) using factor analyses using REDCap surveys (N = 614, 58.7% with pain). Four core-and 6 associated-MSS factors were identified from the items assessed. None of these surveys addressed all major sensory systems and most included additional related constructs. A revised version of the Somatosensory Ampli-fication Scale was developed, encompassing 5 core MSS systems: vision, hearing, smell, tactile, and internal bodily sensations: the 12-item Multisensory Amplification Scale (MSAS). The MSAS demon-strated good internal consistency (alpha = 0.82), test-retest reliability (ICC3,1 = 0.90), and construct valid -ity in the original and in a new, separate cohort (R = 0.54-0.79, P < .0001). Further, the odds of having pain were 2-3.5 times higher in the highest sex-specific MSAS quartile relative to the lowest MSAS quartile, after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, and pain schema (P < .03). The MSAS provides a psychometri-cally comprehensive, brief, and promising tool for measuring the core-dimensions of MSS. Perspective: Multiple multisensory sensitivity (MSS) tools are used, but without exploration of their underlying domains. We found several measures lacking core MSS domains, thus we modified an existing scale to encompass 5 core MSS domains: light, smell, sound, tactile, and internal bodily sensations using only 12 items, with good psychometric properties. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of United States Association for the Study of Pain, Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Clinical Neurology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Neurosciences Neurosciences & Neurology Science & Technology

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