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The Role of Experiential Avoidance, Resilience and Pain Acceptance in the Adjustment of Chronic Back Pain Patients Who Have Experienced a Traumatic Event: a Path Analysis

  • Original Article
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Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

The degree to which shared vulnerability and protective factors for chronic pain and trauma-related symptoms contribute to pain adjustment in chronic pain patients who have experienced a traumatic event remains unclear.

Purpose

The purpose is to test a hypothetical model of the contribution of experiential avoidance, resilience and pain acceptance to pain adjustment in a sample of 229 chronic back pain patients who experienced a traumatic event before the onset of pain.

Methods

Structural equation modelling was used to test the linear relationships between the variables.

Results

The empirical model shows significant relationships between the variables: resilience on pain acceptance and trauma-related symptoms, experiential avoidance on trauma-related symptoms and experiential avoidance, pain acceptance and trauma-related symptoms on pain adjustment.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the role of a vulnerability pathway (i.e. experiential avoidance) and a protective pathway (i.e. resilience and pain acceptance) in adaptation to pain after a traumatic event.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the physicians of Cruz de Humilladero, Carranque, Puerta Blanca, Teatinos and the Carihuela Primary Health Care Centres, both in Málaga, Spain, for their help in data collection. The authors wish to thank anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions aided in the preparation of this article. This work was partly supported by grants from the Andalusian County Council (HUM-566; P07-SEJ-3067) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PSI2008-01803/PSIC). Gema T. Ruiz-Párraga received a grant from the Regional Government of Andalusia (Proyectos Excelencia 2008–2012).

Authors’ Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards

Alicia E. López-Martínez and Gema T. Ruiz Párraga declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain

    Gema T. Ruiz-Párraga Ph.D. & Alicia E. López-Martínez Ph.D.

  2. Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, s/n., 29071, Málaga, Spain

    Alicia E. López-Martínez Ph.D.

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  1. Gema T. Ruiz-Párraga Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Alicia E. López-Martínez Ph.D..

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Ruiz-Párraga, G.T., López-Martínez, A.E. The Role of Experiential Avoidance, Resilience and Pain Acceptance in the Adjustment of Chronic Back Pain Patients Who Have Experienced a Traumatic Event: a Path Analysis. ann. behav. med. 49, 247–257 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9654-3

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