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

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.