OBJECTIVES: Assess the psychometric properties of a newly developed questionnaire (the PBQ) in a group of patients diagnosed with DPN. METHODS: An instrument was developed to assess the effect of DPN on the patient’s perception of symptoms, activities of daily living (ADL), and health related quality of life (QOL). Expert panel review and 9 patient focus groups indicated that the instrument had face/content validity. 222 patients being screened for inclusion into a clinical trial completed the instrument. RESULTS: The rate of missing values was 3% to 5% - with Pain Severity Scale for Hands and Arms having the highest rate. Item-discriminant validity tests indicated that 98% of the items were scaling successes. The possible scaling failures are associated with two scales (Numbness and Tingling for feet and legs, and Numbness/Tingling for hands and arms). Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.67 to 0.94. Scale correlations and Cronbach’s alpha in parentheses for the partial symptom section are provided below. Scale Sen F/L Sen H/A N/T F&L N/T H&A Fq pain F/L Fq pain H/A Sev pain F/L Sev pain H/A 6-mo Sx F/L Sen F/L (0.85) Sen H/A 0.69 (0.88) N/T F&L 0.43 0.29 (0.67) N/T H&A 0.27 0.49 0.48 (0.74) Fq pain F/L 0.35 0.27 0.63 0.26 (0.74) Fq pain H/A 0.33 0.46 0.45 0.70 0.49 (0.84) Sev pain F/L 0.56 0.45 0.53 0.38 0.54 0.43 (0.84) Sev pain H/A 0.47 0.62 0.23 0.53 0.20 0.53 0.64 (0.87) 6-mo Sx F/L 0.76 0.62 0.57 0.38 0.46 0.42 0.73 0.53 (0.93) Interscale correlations followed a priori patterns. Psychometric characteristics of the ADL and QOL sections were as predicted. CONCLUSION: The newly developed PBQ in this cohort of DPN patients exhibits the psychometric properties of reliability, validity, and responsiveness.