Skip to contentScholarGate
LibraryBookshelfDeskReview StudioAssistant
Sign in
Numeric Rating Scale for Pain/Evidence
Method evidence record

Numeric Rating Scale for Pain

The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) is a single-item, self-report measure of pain intensity developed by Jensen and colleagues in 1986. Patients rate their pain on an 11-point scale (0-10) where 0 represents no pain and 10 represents the worst pain imaginable. The NRS is among the most widely used pain severity measures in clinical practice and research due to its simplicity, rapid administration, and robust measurement properties.

Sources recorded, not reviewed

Source record

Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.

Numeric Rating Scale - Pain Intensity
Taxonomic method record · process-pipeline / health-services
  • Jensen, M. P., Karoly, P., & Braver, S. (1986). The measurement of clinical pain intensity: a comparison of six methods. Pain, 27(3), 297-307. · DOI 10.1016/0304-3959(86)90228-9
  • Jensen, M. P., Turner, J. A., & Romano, J. M. (2001). Changes in beliefs, catastrophizing, and coping are associated with improvement in multidisciplinary pain treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69(4), 655-662. · DOI 10.1037/0022-006X.69.4.655
  • Hawker, G. A., Mian, S. O., Kendzerska, T., & French, M. (2011). Measures of adult pain: Visual Analog Scale for Pain (VAS), Numeric Rating Scale for Pain (NRS), McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ). Arthritis Care & Research, 63(S11), S240-S252. · URL
Open full method

Curated claims

Claims persisted in the evidence ledger, each with its own assessment.

No curated claims yet

This view does not invent a claim assessment when the ledger has none.

Related methods

Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.

Same method familyBrief Pain Inventorymachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyMcGill Pain Questionnairemachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.

Evidence status

Sources recorded, not reviewed

Bibliographic sources are present. Claim-level evidence review has not been performed.

Sources

3 recorded citations, copied from the method source record.

Actions

Open method page
ScholarGate

A content-first reference library for research methods — what each one is, how it works, and where it comes from.

Open data (CC-BY)

Explore

  • Library
  • Search the library…
  • Browse by field
  • Fields
  • Journey
  • Compare
  • Which method?

Reference

  • Subjects
  • Atlas
  • Glossary
  • Methodology
  • Philosophy

Your tools

  • Bookshelf
  • Desk
  • Chat

Company

  • About
  • Pricing
  • Contact
  • Suggest a method

Entries are compiled from published sources for reference. Verifying the accuracy and suitability of any information for your own use remains your responsibility.

© 2026 ScholarGate · A research-method reference library
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Terms
  • Delete account