Article

Patients' illness beliefs were shown to be more relevant than other
psychosocial factors of influence for predicting outcome in back pain in primary
care. The aim of this study was to determine whether illness beliefs and beliefs
about rehabilitation are predictors of functioning, pain intensity, and coping
with pain after rehabilitation in a population with longstanding chronic back
pain. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: The study included 110 patients with longstanding
chronic back pain in a longitudinal study design with 3 measurement points
(before rehabilitation, end of rehabilitation, and 6 months follow-up). METHODS:
Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the relative
contribution of illness beliefs and beliefs about rehabilitation to the
rehabilitation outcomes while adjusting for baseline values of outcome measures,
mental health, sociodemographic, and illness-related variables. RESULTS: Illness
beliefs and beliefs about rehabilitation made a significant contribution to the
prediction of rehabilitation outcomes. In the short and medium term, incremental
variance for coping with pain was as much as 13%, for functioning up to 14%, and
for pain intensity between 6% and 9%. CONCLUSION: Further studies should be
conducted as a confirmatory test of our preliminary results and to test the
relative relevance of these constructs compared with other yellow flags for
chronic patient samples.

Langue : ANGLAIS