Article

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether psychological factors and personality traits
influence recovery in terms of quality of life in patients with subacute whiplash
associated disorders (WAD). METHOD: The data was obtained from a randomized
controlled trial (RCT) on 47 patients. The patients completed measures of pain
intensity, affective dimension of pain, pain location, psychological stress,
heightened somatic awareness, depression, catastrophizing, self-efficacy, fear of
movement (re)injury, and physical disability. After three months of physiotherapy
interventions, the outcome of quality of life was measured with the Short Form
Health survey (SF-12). All variables were entered in a multiple regression
analysis, after controlling for age and sex. RESULTS: Forty patients (85%)
completed the trial. The self-efficacy scale (SES) was the only variable in the
model that significantly explained the fraction of the SF12-score. The
correlation between the SES and SF-12 was B = 0.64 (p < 0.01), and the adjusted
R(2) was 0.40 (p < 0.05), which means that 40% of the variation in the SF12
outcomes was explained by the SES. CONCLUSION: In order to improve health-related
quality of life in patients with WAD, the present study stresses the importance
of targeting self-efficacy. A special effort should be made to enhance these beliefs in the rehabilitation process.

Langue : ANGLAIS