The Thai version of the defense and veterans pain rating scale (DV-PRS) for postoperative pain assessment in patients after postpartum tubal ligation and total abdominal hysterectomy: a psychometric evaluation

Background Accurate postoperative pain assessment is essential for evaluating recovery. The Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS) is a multidimensional patient-reported measure assessing pain intensity and pain-related interference with activity, sleep, mood, and stress. Its psychometric performance has not been evaluated in Thai postoperative patients. Methods This prospective psychometric validation study enrolled 288 women at a tertiary hospital in Thailand: 132 underwent postpartum tubal resection within 24 h after vaginal delivery, and 156 underwent elective total abdominal hysterectomy outside the peripartum context. The DVPRS-Thai was administered at predefined perioperative time points. Evaluation included test–retest reliability, internal consistency, convergent validity against the modified Thai Brief Pain Inventory (mBPI-T), known-group validity, responsiveness, feasibility, and floor and ceiling effects. Results Preoperative test–retest rank correlations in the hysterectomy cohort ranged from ρ = 0.689–0.743, and internal consistency was high (Cronbach's α = 0.946). In the postpartum tubal ligation cohort, correlations with corresponding mBPI-T domains were moderate-to-strong ( r = 0.55–0.84). Pain intensity and interference scores were significantly lower following postpartum tubal ligation than following total abdominal hysterectomy (all P < 0.001). Scores decreased significantly from postoperative days 1–3 after hysterectomy (all P < 0.001). Mean completion time was 3.4 ± 1.1 min. No ceiling effects were observed, whereas floor effects occurred primarily in supplementary interference items following postpartum tubal ligation. Discussions The DVPRS-Thai demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties and feasibility in women undergoing postpartum tubal ligation or total abdominal hysterectomy; further validation across pain severities and other procedures is needed.