• Florian Bailly, Violaine Foltz, Sylvie Rozenberg, Bruno Fautrel, and Laure Gossec.
• Service de rhumatologie, hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83, boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France; Institut Pierre-Louis d'épidémiologie et de santé publique, UPMC université Paris 06, Sorbonne universités, 75013 Paris, France.
• Joint Bone Spine. 2015 Dec 1; 82 (6): 437-41.

ObjectivesChronic low back pain (LBP) has an important impact on quality of life, through pain and functional incapacity, but also psychosocial distress. The social participation consequences of LBP have been less explored. The objective was to better understand experiences of patients living with chronic LBP, with a focus on impact on relationships with family, friends and work colleagues.MethodsMonocentric qualitative study in a tertiary-referral centre in Paris, France. Participants had chronic mechanical LBP. Semi-structured interviews were conducted during 4 focus groups discussions focusing on living with LBP. Verbatim was categorized and coded using thematic content analysis.ResultsTwenty-five persons (11 men, 14 women) participated; ages ranged 25-81 years. Participants often reported a negative self-perception in social interactions, with shame and frustration regarding their difficulties to perform activities of daily living. They often felt misunderstood and unsupported, partly due to the absence of visible signs of the condition. Participants suffered from the negative collective image attached to LBP ("benign/psychological disease"). LBP resulted in some patients in a significant loss of social identity with perceived impossibility to perform one's social role at home and at work. In contrast, family and friends were sometimes a support and helped in pain management.ConclusionA systematic assessment of social role is needed in LBP care.Copyright © 2015 Société française de rhumatologie. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

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