Fear-avoidance, pain acceptance and adjustment to chronic pain: a cross-sectional study on a sample of 686 patients with chronic spinal pain.

Abstract

Prior studies found a range of psychological factors related to the perception of pain, maintenance of pain and disability. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of pain fear-avoidance and pain acceptance in chronic pain adjustment. The influence of two diathesis variables (resilience and experiential avoidance) was also analyzed. The sample was composed of 686 patients with chronic spinal pain. Structural equation modelling analyses were used to test the hypothetical model. Experiential avoidance was associated with pain fear-avoidance, and resilience was strongly associated with pain acceptance. Pain acceptance was negatively associated with negative mood, functional impairment and pain intensity. However, pain fear-avoidance was positively and significantly associated with negative mood but had no association with pain intensity. There was a path from functional impairment to pain fear-avoidance. Resilience and experiential avoidance appear as variables which could explain individual differences in pain experience.