Spiritual/religious distress is associated with pain catastrophizing and interference in veterans with chronic pain

Abstract

Objective. Few studies have examined relations between one important aspect of spiritual/religious functioning-spiritual distress-and pain-related outcomes, and none has examined how spiritual distress and depression conjointly relate to chronic pain. The goal of the present study, then, was to examine veterans' spiritual distress as a predictor of two aspects of chronic pain, catastrophizing and interference, testing a mediational model of depression. Design. Four hundred thirty-six patients seeking treatment in a chronic pain management clinic responded to a mailed survey assessing demographics, spiritual distress, depression, pain catastrophizing, and pain interference. Setting. Participants were drawn from a list of patients enrolled in a chronic pain rehabilitation program at a large Midwestern Veterans Affairs health care system. Subjects. Participants were 436 veterans seeking chronic pain rehabilitation. The sample was predominantly Caucasian and male. Methods. Survey data were subjected to mediational analysis, assessing both direct effects of spiritual distress on pain outcomes and indirect effects of spiritual distress through depression. Results. Results showed that spiritual distress was moderately strongly related to both pain outcomes. Further, depression mediated links between spiritual distress and pain catastrophizing (partially) and interference (fully). Conclusions. These results have implications for further research in spiritually integrated care as a component of holistic, integrative approaches to the management of chronic pain.