| Abstract [eng] |
Laura Eylen. The relationship between chronic low back pain and pain acceptance, self-concept, and demographic variables in an adult population. Master's thesis in Psychology. Thesis supervisor doc. dr. Rūta Sargautytė, Vilnius University: Vilnius, 2025 – 67 pages. Global data shows that low back pain is one of the most common conditions worldwide (Hartvigsen et al., 2018). Pain leads to impaired quality of life (Jacob et al., 2004) and damaged social relationships (Campbell & Cramb, 2008; Froud et al., 2014; Svensson et al., 2010;), reduced ability to work (Svensson et al., 2010), increased isolation (Froud et al., 2014) and a negative impact on self-concept (Charmaz, 1995; Crowe et al., 2010; Miles et al., 2005). The present study aimed to assess the associations of chronic pain with pain acceptance, self-concept and demographic variables. The study included 119 individuals, aged 19-85 years, who suffered from chronic low back pain. 78% of the subjects were woman and 22% were man. Short form version of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (Fish et al., 2010), Illness Self-Concept Scale (Morea et al., 2008) were used in this study. Moreover characteristics of pain (duration, intensity, frequency etc.) were also assessed. The study found that greater acceptance of pain led to less identification with it. Furthermore, greater pain self-concept was associated with more intense pain while pain acceptance – with less intense pain. Results revealed that, regardless of education level, greater identification with pain and its prevalence, and, regardless of age, lower willingness to experience pain, were associated with greater pain intensity. The results demonstrated that pain self-concept and acceptance predicted the impact of pain on mood, relationships, enjoyment of life and general activity. |
