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Mental quality of life in chronic fatigue is associated with an accommodative coping style and neuroticism: a path analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

An accommodative coping style (e.g. acceptance) is related to a better mental health-related quality of life (MHQL) in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). We want to explore whether neuroticism is predictive for this coping style and MHQL.

Secondly we want to explore the relation between acceptance and physical health-related quality of life (PHQL) and expect that illness-related variables such as fatigue severity and duration are related to PHQL.

Method

In this cross-sectional study, 117 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome from an outpatient internal medicine clinic completed self-report questionnaires on quality of life (SF-36), acceptance (ICQ), personality traits (NEO-FFI) and fatigue severity (CIS).

Results

Regression analyses showed that neuroticism and acceptance are predictors of MHQL (38% of the variance was explained). The path analysis showed that acceptance mediates between neuroticism and MHQL and that PHQL is related to MHQL. PHQL is related to fatigue severity and duration, but not to neuroticism and acceptance.

Conclusion

Stimulating an ‘accepting accommodative coping style’ within the treatment for CFS is important in improving mental quality of life. Our results suggest that neuroticism may be negatively related to acceptance and MHQL. This findings support the idea that a psychological diagnostic workout with special attention to personality traits in relation to their coping style is recommended in order to choose the most appropriate therapeutic approach in this population.

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank Mrs Ilka Vandereyden for assistance in collecting the data for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Internal Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Carine Poppe, Ignace Hanoulle & Dirk Vogelaers

  2. Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Geert Crombez

  3. Department of Geriatric Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium

    Mirko Petrovic

Authors
  1. Carine Poppe
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  2. Geert Crombez
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  3. Ignace Hanoulle
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  4. Dirk Vogelaers
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  5. Mirko Petrovic
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Correspondence to Carine Poppe.

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Poppe, C., Crombez, G., Hanoulle, I. et al. Mental quality of life in chronic fatigue is associated with an accommodative coping style and neuroticism: a path analysis. Qual Life Res 21, 1337–1345 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-0048-8

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