Article

The aim is to study how pain coping strategies and catastrophising are
related to disability and depression in patients with whiplash-associated
disorders (WAD). Specifically, we wanted to test if they are independent
predictive variables, after controlling for pain severity, sociodemographic and
crash-related variables. METHODS: A convenience sample of 147 patients with WAD
of less than 3 months of duration was recruited. They were requested to complete
the Pain Catastrophising Scale, the two-item version of the Chronic Pain Coping
Inventory and to report sociodemographic and crash-related information, pain
intensity, disability and depression. RESULTS: Although several pain coping
strategies were related with disability in univariate analyses, only asking for
assistance was a marginally significant predictive variable in a multiple
regression analysis after controlling for catastrophising. Catastrophising was a
significant predictive variable after controlling for pain coping strategies.
With depression as the outcome, resting and task persistence were the only pain
coping strategies which were related in univariate analyses. However, none of
them were predictive variables after controlling for catastrophising. Again,
catastrophising was a significant predictive variable after controlling for pain
coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that catastrophising about pain
is more important than pain coping strategies in patients with WAD of a short
duration. These results can contribute to the conceptual distinction between pain
coping strategies and catastrophising.

Langue : ANGLAIS