The Clinical journal of pain
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To search for generalizable, psychological predictors of chronic pain treatment outcome. ⋯ The "general predictors" of chronic pain treatment outcome may be difficult to find. Therefore, planning treatment for the individual patient may always have to be based on accurate multiaxial and multidimensional assessment of patient functioning.
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Some studies have found significant relations between both the factor scores and subscales of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ) and various measures of adjustment to chronic pain. In their review of the literature on coping with chronic pain, Jensen et al. (Pain 1991;47:249-83) suggest that conceptual overlap between the subscales may inflate these observed correlations. In the present study, we examine the factor structure of the CSQ subscales which reflect coping, excluding the CSQ subscales which measure appraisal or activity. We then examine the relationship between the CSQ factors and subscales and pain adjustment, while controlling for selected variables. ⋯ The results suggest that praying/hoping and catastrophizing are related to poorer adjustment to chronic pain, that ability to control and decrease pain are related to better adjustment, and that catastrophizing appears to be a separate construct from depression. The results also suggest that the individual CSQ subscales may have greater utility in terms of examining coping, appraisals, and pain adjustment compared to the composite scores.