Are coping and catastrophising independently related to disability and depression in patients with whiplash associated disorders?

Abstract

Purpose. The aim is to study how pain coping strategies and catastrophising are related to disability and depression in patients with whiplash-associated disorders (WAD). Specifically, we wanted to test if they are independent predictive variables, after controlling for pain severity, sociodemographic and crash-related variables.

Methods. A convenience sample of 147 patients with WAD of less than 3 months of duration was recruited. They were requested to complete the Pain Catastrophising Scale, the two-item version of the Chronic Pain Coping Inventory and to report sociodemographic and crash-related information, pain intensity, disability and depression.

Results. Although several pain coping strategies were related with disability in univariate analyses, only asking for assistance was a marginally significant predictive variable in a multiple regression analysis after controlling for catastrophising. Catastrophising was a significant predictive variable after controlling for pain coping strategies. With depression as the outcome, resting and task persistence were the only pain coping strategies which were related in univariate analyses. However, none of them were predictive variables after controlling for catastrophising. Again, catastrophising was a significant predictive variable after controlling for pain coping strategies.

Conclusions. Our results show that catastrophising about pain is more important than pain coping strategies in patients with WAD of a short duration. These results can contribute to the conceptual distinction between pain coping strategies and catastrophising.

Keywords:

• Coping
• catastrophising
• depression
• patients with whiplash-associated disorders

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the following rehabilitation centres that contributed to sample recruitment: FISIC, REDDISMATT, Xarxa Sanitaria i Social Santa Tecla, Centre Fontanet, Serveis de Rehabilitació del Institut Català de la Salut (Tarragona-Reus), Centre de Recuperació Funcional, and Centre Mèdic de Rehabilitació. We are also very grateful to Dr. Beatriz Sora for their help with statistical analysis. This article was partly funded by a doctoral grant from the Department of Universities, Research and the Information Society and the European Social Fund awarded to RN and by grants SEJ2006-15247/PSIC and SEJ2006-1430/PSIC from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.