Psychological Covariates of Longitudinal Changes in Back-related Disability in Patients Undergoing Acupuncture

Objectives: To identify psychological covariates of longitudinal changes in back-related disability in patients undergoing acupuncture. Materials and Methods: A longitudinal postal questionnaire study was conducted with data collection at baseline (pretreatment), 2 weeks, 3, and 6 months later. A total of 485 patients were recruited from 83 acupuncturists before commencing acupuncture for back pain. Questionnaires measured variables from 4 theories (fear-avoidance model, common-sense model, expectancy theory, social-cognitive theory), clinical and sociodemographic characteristics, and disability. Longitudinal multilevel models were constructed with disability over time as the outcome. Results: Within individuals, reductions in disability (compared with the person’s individual mean) were associated with reductions in: fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity (β=0.11, P
Source: The Clinical Journal of Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research