The Electronic Bonn Pain Diary: A desktop version for the inpatient setting

Computer-assisted self-monitoring of subjective experience has become one o f the most promising methods of behavioral assessment in multidisciplinary pain diagnosis and therapy. This technical report presents a PC software, c alled 'Elektronisches Bonner Schmerztagebuch' (Electronically Bonn Pain Dia ry), which provides 1. estimators for intensity, affective, and sensory qua lity of pain based on the scaling of verbal descriptors and 2. self-report data for various topics such as hassles, duration of pain, sleep, and medic ation. This desktop software (Visual Basic under Excel 97, Windows 95 and h igher) allows data acquisition and automatic evaluation in in-patient setti ngs. The automatic evaluation comprises graphical and statistical analysis of time series data. Furthermore, parameters for scaling consistency are pr ovided. Later reduces the vulnerability to several scaling biases. Applicat ion and interpretation are described in detail.