Prediction of Functional Disability Based on Health-Promoting Lifestyle, Psychological Distress, Emotional Adjustment with Mediating Role of Experiential Avoidance in Patients with Chronic Pain

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medical Sciences and Technologies, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

2 MA in Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medical Sciences and TechnologiesIslamic, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22034/jmpr.2023.57111.5656

Abstract

Chronic pain is a rapidly growing chronic condition worldwide which can be the cause or effect of a wide range of psychological symptoms of patients. The aim of this research is to predict functional disability based on health-promoting lifestyle, psychological distress, and emotional adjustment with the mediating role of experiential avoidance in patients with chronic pain. The present research is of descriptive-correlational type. The statistical population consists of all patients referring to Iran’s Rheumatology Center and Farhikhtegan Hospital in April-September 2022 with the diagnosis of chronic pain. Sampling method was purposive, whereby considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 130 subjects were chosen. For data collection, Jones & Rudwalt self-handicapping, Walker’s et al. health-promoting lifestyle, Kessler et al. psychological distress, Rubio et al. emotional adjustment, Bond et al. acceptance and action scales have been used. The collected data were analyzed at descriptive and inferential levels, with the research model evaluated using path analysis technique. A significant relationship was found between all predictor variables, as well as experiential avoidance and functional disability (P<0.05). A significant correlation was also found between the independent variables of psychological distress, emotional adjustment and experiential avoidance as intervening variable (P<0.05). The mediating role of experiential avoidance in the relationship between emotional adjustment and functional disability was confirmed (P<0.05).  No significant association was observed between health-promoting lifestyle, psychological distress and experiential avoidance (P>0.05). The research findings have been in line with the research models. Based on the obtained results, it can be stated that functional disability along the life span occurs with pain in patients, and the intensity of disability can be affected by other mentioned psychological variables.

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