Selective attention and fear avoidance in the maintenance and management of pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis

Funded Activity Summary

Despite advances in the treatment of RA, the condition continues to have a chronic course for the majority of patients. Research has established that the way in which people think about pain and illness influences their responses to symptoms. In turn, these factors can impinge on quality of life and disability. For people with chronic pain problems, those who are fearful of pain and concentrate on symptoms have a poorer outcome in the long-term. In RA, striking a balance between rest and exercise is thought to be crucial. As such, ignoring the pain can lead to overactivity and subsequent joint damage and may be as unhelpful as underactivity. This project aims to investigate the relationship between people's fear of pain and the degree to which they attend to pain. It is suggested that those with very high or very low levels of fear towards the pain will either over-attend or under-attend to pain in comparison to healthy controls and patients with a moderate level of fear. Optimum levels of fear avoidance are expected to be associated with less disability and improved joint function. These findings have implications for the management of RA. Psychological treatments for patients with RA have been found to be effective in reducing pain, disability and improving mood. Treatments usually focus on a combination of changing people's attitudes and behaviours. However, whether strategies that aim to change attitudes or those targeting behaviour are more successful or have specific treatment effects is unknown. The present project will compare a treatment targeting behaviours associated with RA and encouraging a balanace between rest and exercise, with a treatment targeting patient's beliefs about the illness. It is expected that the treatments will have specific effects, which may better allow tailoring of psychological management to patient's individual needs.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2002

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $195,660.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Financial economics

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

chronic pain | cognitive processes | cognitive-behavioural therapy | disability | fear avoidance - behavioural research | randomised controlled trial | rheumatoid arthritis | treatment outcome

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