The Relationship Between quality of life, coping strategies, Depressive Symptoms and Pain Perception in Patients with Pain Complaint

Objective: There is a relation between psychosocial factors and complaints of musculoskeletal pain. In this study it is aimed to assess the relationship between quality of life, depressive symptoms, coping strategies and the pain perception of the patients with pain complaint. Method: Ninety-nine patients complaining musculoskeletal pain were administered a sociodemographic data form, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) and COPE Inventory. Results: A positive relation was determined between the intensity of pain perception and age, BMI, radiological findings. There is no correlation between physical and mental health, but the patients with high pain perception, back and lower extremities pain complaints had lower quality of life than the others. Radiological findings had no affect on the quality of life. It was found that the patients with lower mental health had depressive symptoms and did not have job satisfaction. Depressive symptoms had a relationship with extremity pain, headache and pain intensity, but had a negative correlation with physical and mental health. Linear regressions of coping strategies and pain duration demonstrated that acceptance and alcohol/drug use had association with pain duration. A significant negative correlation was found between suppression of competing activities and mental health. Depressive symptoms had a positive relationship with passive ways of coping as focus on and venting of emotions, behavioural disengagement and alcohol/drug use, but a negative correlation with an active way of coping such as active coping. Conclusion: The findings of this study support that it is useful to develop treatment and rehabilitation programmes with a cognitive structure and assess coping strategies and depressive symptoms to enhance the aims of treatment. Key words: pain, quality of life, depressive symptoms, coping strategies