Treatment Expectancy in Individuals with Chronic Pain attending a Pain Management Program

The experience of chronic pain and subsequent treatment outcomes, as guided by the biopsychosocial models of pain, is influenced by both physical and psychosocial variables. The cognitive variable of expectancy requires further investigation within this population group. Treatment expectancy is a predictor of treatment outcome for people with chronic pain, both for active and passive treatment strategies. Multi-disciplinary pain management programs are considered gold standard in the treatment of chronic pain, however non-adherence and relapse rates remain high. The current study aimed to explore changes in treatment expectancy, as well as the influence of psychosocial factors on self-reported expectancy in patients referred to a pain management program. In an effort to gain further insight into how treatment expectancy may influence relapse. Seventy-one chronic pain patients completed self-report measures over four time points (pre-program; post-program; one-month; three-month follow-up). These measures assessed variables of depression, catastrophizing, fear of movement/(re)injury, self-efficacy, disability