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ABSTRACT
Objective: To examine pain-related activity interference as a mediator for the relationship between pain intensity and depressive symptoms among older adults with serious mental illness (SMI).
Method: Ordinary least-squares regressions were used to investigate the mediation analysis among older adults with SMI (n = 183) from community mental health centers. Analyses used secondary data from the HOPES intervention study.
Results: Higher pain intensity was associated with greater pain-related activity interference. Higher pain intensity and pain-related activity interference were also associated with elevated depressive symptoms. Finally, greater pain-related activity interference significantly mediated the association between higher pain intensity and elevated depressive symptoms.
Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that pain and depressive symptoms may be linked to functional limitations. Clinicians and researchers in the mental health field should better address pain-related activity interference among older adults with SMI, especially among those with higher pain intensity and elevated depressive symptoms.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.