Coping with chronic pain: a comparison of two measures

Cognitive-behavioral models of chronic pain hypothesize that how a person c opes with pain influences how well he or she adjusts to the pain. Several m easures have been developed to assess pain coping, but no studies have yet examined whether these measures are complementary or redundant. In the curr ent study, two pain coping measures (the Chronic Pain Coping Inventory, CPC I, and the Coping Strategies Questionnaire, CSQ) were completed by a large number (N = 564) of primarily male veterans referred to a chronic pain prog ram. Regression analyses indicated that the CPCI scales did not contribute unique Variance to the prediction of depression over and above the CSQ scal es. The CSQ Catastrophizing scale was the single most powerful predictor of depression, although several other CSQ scales (Coping Self-Statements, Div erting Attention, and Increasing Behavioral Activities) also contributed. B oth the CPCI and the CSQ contributed unique Variance to the prediction of d isability, although the CPCI scales appear to be more strongly related to d isability than the CSQ scales. The CPCI Guarding scale was the single most powerful predictor of disability of all the coping responses assessed in th is study. Other scales predicting disability were the CPCI Seeking Social S upport, the CSQ Catastrophizing, and the CSQ Increasing Behavioral Activiti es. While both CSQ and CPCI contribute unique but modest variance to the pr ediction of pain severity, the CSQ Catastrophizing scale was the single mos t powerful predictor of pain severity. The findings of this study are consi stent with cognitive-behavioral models of pain. Future research will need t o determine whether changes in coping responses (catastrophizing and guardi ng, in particular) merely reflect, or actually influence, adjustment to chr onic pain. In the meantime, clinicians would be wise to give these coping r esponses particular attention in chronic pain programs. (C) 2001 Internatio nal Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.