Motivational impact, self-reported fear, avoidance, and harm perception of shoulder movements pictures in people with chronic shoulder pain

Abstract

Objectives

(1) to represent in pictures a group of items from the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) that represent daily situations; (2) to compare valence and arousal evoked by these pictures between chronic shoulder pain and pain-free control groups and assess self-reports of fear, avoidance, and harm perception.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional observational study and approved by Research Ethics Committee. Selected pictures representing items from the ICF were judged by members of the general public using an online form. We used the set of International Affective Picture System and the Self-Assessment Manikin to compare valence and arousal between groups. The chronic shoulder pain group answered questions regarding self-reports of fear, avoidance, and harm perception.

Results

The protocol consisted of 58 pictures. A repeated measures ANOVA for valence revealed a main effect of group, F(1, 9)=24.81;p < 0.005, and no effect on the arousal, F(1,9)=2.00;p < 0.190. The shoulder pain group judged shoulder pictures more aversive. The picture that represents the movement of carrying on shoulder presented the highest medians of self-reports of fear, avoidance, and harm perception 10(8-10).

Conclusion

The pictures represent daily activities that correspond to the items from the ICF. The valence of the shoulder pictures was different between the groups, shoulder pictures were considered more aversive for the group with chronic shoulder pain. The responses of avoidance, fear, and harm perception showed higher median in the carrying on shoulders, hip, and back picture.

Keywords:

• Pain
• emotion
• chronic shoulder pain
• motivational impact
• fear-avoidance

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all volunteers who participated in the research.

Authors’ contributions

MCT, FJJR, and ASO: Conception and design.

MCT, WA: Data collect.

MCT, FJJR, WA, AM, JWSV and ASO: Acquisition and analysis of data.

MCT, FJJR, WA, AM, JWSV and ASO: Manuscript writing and review.

MCT, FJJR, WA, AM, JWSV and ASO: Final approval of the version to be published.

All authors contributed critically to the discussion and interpretation of the results and commented on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, ASO, upon reasonable request. Data were collected from August 2019 to July 2021. The study was carried out in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior–Brasil (CAPES), process:88887.597559/2021-00.