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Dimensions of psychological dysfunction in patients with fibromyalgia: development of an Italian questionnaire

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Abstract

Our objective was to observe whether dysfunctional psychological dimensions of pain could be detected in fibromyalgia patients through the development of a new questionnaire. An original questionnaire composed of 51 items was given to 250 patients (185 females and 65 males, mean age 55±12.8 years) suffering from chronic fibromyalgia according to the criteria of the Multicenter Criteria Committee of the American College of Rheumatology. A Varimax computerized program of factorial analysis with orthogonal and oblique rotation of the axes was used to analyze the data. Five strong independent factors were identified: 1) catastrophizing and 2) external control beliefs (cognitive); 3) alexithymia (emotional); 4) restless behavior (behavioral); and 5) need for support (relational). Our questionnaire is a preliminary development of an Italian language psychological characterization of FM patients which may be a relevant and useful tool for the evaluation of the outcome of clinical/psychological treatment of FM.

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Abbreviations

FM:

Fibromyalgia

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University of Florence, Villa Monna Tessa, Viale Pieraccini 18, 50139, Florence, Italy

    Nicola Colangelo, Luca Bertinotti, Francesca Nacci, Maria Letizia Conforti, Alberto Pignone, Marco Matucci-Cerinic & Massimo Zoppi

  2. Department of Medical and Surgical Critical care, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Elisabetta Beneforti

Authors
  1. Nicola Colangelo
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  2. Luca Bertinotti
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  3. Francesca Nacci
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  4. Maria Letizia Conforti
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  5. Elisabetta Beneforti
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  6. Alberto Pignone
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  7. Marco Matucci-Cerinic
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  8. Massimo Zoppi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marco Matucci-Cerinic.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 is an English translation of the CDM questionnaire.

Table 3 CDM questionnaire (CDM = comportamento di malattia; Italian for ‘morbid behavior’)
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Colangelo, N., Bertinotti, L., Nacci, F. et al. Dimensions of psychological dysfunction in patients with fibromyalgia: development of an Italian questionnaire. Clin Rheumatol 23, 102–108 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-003-0821-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-003-0821-3

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