CORRELATES OF IMPROVEMENT IN MULTIDISCIPLINARY TREATMENT OF CHRONIC PAIN

Although multidisciplinary pain programs have been demonstrated to be effective, the processes of improvement have yet to be clarified. Cogn itive-behavioral models posit that improvement is due, in part, to cha nges in patient pain beliefs and coping strategies. To test the relati onships between treatment outcome and changes in beliefs and coping st rategies, 94 chronic pain patients completed measures of physical and psychological functioning, health care utilization, pain beliefs, and use of pain coping strategies at admission and 3 to 6 months after inp atient pain treatment. Improved functioning and decreased health care use were associated with changes in both beliefs and cognitive coping strategies. However, changes in some coping strategies, such as exerci se and use of rest, were not associated with improvement.