A comparative study of coping among women with fibromyalgia, neck/shoulder and back pain

Abstract

Passive coping strategies for pain (e.g., eatastrophizing) have been implicated in the development and maintenance of chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia (FM). Catastrophizing may thus be independently associated with FM, controlling for pain parameters such as intensity and complexity. This cross-sectional study compared coping strategies for pain (Coping Strategies Questionnaire; CSQ) among women with FM (n = 81), neck/shoulder pain (re = 76), and back pain (re = 131). Soeiodemographics and pain parameters were also assessed. FM patients reported stronger pain intensity, higher consumption of analgesics and sedatives, and higher disability than the other patients did. They also reported higher scores for the CSQ subscales–diverting attention, eatastrophizing, praying/hoping, and pain behaviors–and lower scores for self-efficacy beliefs. Multivariate analyses controlling for relevant conifounders ruled out most differences in coping strategies between groups, with the exception of diverting attention and pain behaviors. The results indicate that passive coping is not independently related to FM, but is, rather, dependent on a more general dysfunction due to pain.