Pain self-management in the process and outcome of multidisciplinary treatment of chronic pain: Evaluation of a stage of change model

For chronic pain patients, acceptance of a self-management approach for pain may influence success in treatment, and adopting such a perspective may be conceptualized as a stage of change model. For 65 chronic pain patients in multidisciplinary treatment programs, we examined whether pretreatment self-management stage, assessed with Pain Stage of Change Questionnaire subscales, affected improvements in outcomes, and whether changes in stage represented a therapeutic process factor. Results showed (a) low precontemplation, high contemplation, and high action attitudes at pretreatment predicted greater improvements in outcomes than the opposite pattern of attitudes; (b) pre-to midtreatment changes in precontemplation and contemplation attitudes predicted mid-to posttreatment changes in pain severity and interference, but not vice versa. Results support the usefulness of a stage model in conceptualizing patients' acquisition of a self-management approach to pain, and suggest that early-treatment progression across stages may lead to reductions in pain severity and lifestyle interference.