PAIN LOCUS OF CONTROL SCORES IN CHRONIC PAIN PATIENTS AND MEDICAL CLINIC PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT PAIN

Objective: We investigated the association between treatment setting a nd pain control attributions as assessed by the Pain Locus of Control Scale (PLOC). Design: Nonrandomized consecutive samples. Patients and Setting: The patient groups included an outpatient pain clinic sample of chronic pain patients (n = 48), a group of medical clinic outpatien ts with chronic pain (n = 28), and a group of medical clinic outpatien ts without current pain (n = 22). Medical clinic patients without curr ent pain were asked to reply to the PLOC items in terms of their usual response when experiencing pain. Results and Conclusions: Results ind icated that pain clinic patients were the least likely of the three gr oups to report predictable control of their pain as reflected by their significantly lower ''powerful other'' and higher ''chance'' dimensio n scores. Medical clinic patients without pain reported greater person al control of pain than the other two groups as evidenced by their hig her ''internality'' dimension score and lower ''chance'' dimension sco re. Results indicate that pain control appraisals differ among patient s with chronic pain and illness as a function of the treatment setting and suggest that differences in cognitive appraisal can affect treatm ent efficacy.