Psychological determinants of quality of life in patients with whiplash associated disorders-a prospective study

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate whether psychological factors and personality traits influence recovery in terms of quality of life in patients with subacute whiplash associated disorders (WAD).

Method: The data was obtained from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on 47 patients. The patients completed measures of pain intensity, affective dimension of pain, pain location, psychological stress, heightened somatic awareness, depression, catastrophizing, self-efficacy, fear of movement (re)injury, and physical disability. After three months of physiotherapy interventions, the outcome of quality of life was measured with the Short Form Health survey (SF-12). All variables were entered in a multiple regression analysis, after controlling for age and sex.

Results: Forty patients (85%) completed the trial. The self-efficacy scale (SES) was the only variable in the model that significantly explained the fraction of the SF12-score. The correlation between the SES and SF-12 was B = 0.64 (p < 0.01), and the adjusted R(2) was 0.40 (p < 0.05), which means that 40% of the variation in the SF12 outcomes was explained by the SES.

Conclusion: In order to improve health-related quality of life in patients with WAD, the present study stresses the importance of targeting self-efficacy. A special effort should be made to enhance these beliefs in the rehabilitation process.