Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The influence of preferred coping style and cognitive strategy on laboratory-induced pain.
To evaluate the effects of matching an individual's coping style (low, mixed, or high monitoring) to an appropriate cognitive strategy (distraction or sensation monitoring) to improve pain management. ⋯ Results demonstrate that matching coping style to the appropriate cognitive strategy is important for improving pain threshold and pain tolerance; however, matching did not reduce pain intensity, pain affect, or anxiety. Future studies should explore the explanation for differential responses of high and low monitors and should test these hypotheses in a clinical setting.