Factors related to the quality of life in adolescents with chronic pain

Factors related to the quality of life in adolescents with chronic pain

Merlijn VP; Hunfeld JA; van der Wouden JC; Hazebroek-Kampschreur AA; Passchier J; Koes BW

The Clinical Journal Of Pain

2006

Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Male; Prognosis; Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Psychology; adolescent; PedPal Lit; Chronic disease; quality of life; Netherlands/epidemiology; Pain Measurement; Pain/diagnosis/epidemiology/psychology; Risk Assessment/methods

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationships between pain characteristics, psychosocial factors, and quality of life among adolescents with chronic pain that existed for at least 3 months, either recurrently (ie, pain with pain-free intervals) or continuously. METHODS: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study in 194 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years who completed questionnaires on pain, psychosocial factors (ie, vulnerability, reinforcement, modeling, and coping), and quality of life, and also kept a diary about their pain complaints for 3 weeks. RESULTS: Multiple hierarchical regression analysis revealed that psychosocial variables accounted for a significant variance in the adolescents' quality of life, even when controlling for pain characteristics. Analysis of the independent variables showed that pain intensity and vulnerability contributed significantly and uniquely to the variance of most quality-of-life domains. In addition, the authors found that emotion-focused avoidance coping strategies (ie, catastrophizing) strengthened the negative relation between pain intensity and psychological functioning. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to pain, psychosocial factors (vulnerability, reinforcement, modeling, and coping) are strongly associated with quality of life in adolescents with chronic pain. These results may contribute to psychological interventions focused on psychological adaptation in young pain patients to improve their quality of life.

2006

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Journal Article

Backlog