Is resilience a greater predictor of persistent pain outcomes than general measures of coping with persistent pain?

Professional Doctorate - Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsych)In clinical practice it is often noted that some individuals struggle with chronic pain while others cope. The purpose of this study was to better understand how resilience fits into coping with persistent pain problems. Of interest was whether measures of resilience are better predictors of adjustment to chronic pain than measures of pain coping as typically used with this patient group. 101 individuals with chronic pain attending an initial assessment at a pain clinic completed self-report measures of resilience and coping. Pain related outcomes were monitored. Results indicated that higher resilience was significantly associated with less fear avoidance, less pain-related disability and lower reported pain intensity. Consistent with theoretical propositions, more resilient individuals with chronic pain also reported better social support, and were more likely to be working. Results also showed that higher resilience was associated with greater pain self-efficacy. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed, and revealed that resilience did not add significantly to the prediction of depression scores and disability scores, over and above the contribution made by existing measures of pain coping. Hence it is concluded that the concept of resilience adds a small but important element to the understanding of adjustment in chronic pain