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. 2020 Nov 14;17(22):8442.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17228442.

Perfectionism and Pain Intensity in Women with Fibromyalgia: Its Influence on Activity Avoidance from The Contextual Perspective

Blanco Sheila  1 , Luque-Reca Octavio  1 , Catala Patricia  1 , Bedmar Dolores  2 , Velasco Lilian  1 , Peñacoba Cecilia  1
Affiliations

Perfectionism and Pain Intensity in Women with Fibromyalgia: Its Influence on Activity Avoidance from The Contextual Perspective

Blanco Sheila et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Given the scarcity of studies regarding perfectionism from a contextual perspective, this study aims to analyze its role in the relationship between pain and activity avoidance and its differential effect among patients with different fibromyalgia severity. A cross-sectional study with 228 women with fibromyalgia classified into two disease severity groups (low/moderate vs. high) was carried out. Moderation analyses were conducted; perfectionism was used as moderator, pain (in high and low pain situations) as independent variable, and activity avoidance as the outcome. Among the high disease severity group, analyses showed direct contributions of perfectionism (p < 0.001) but not of pain (p > 0.05); moderation effects were found in high pain situations (p = 0.002) (for low levels of perfectionism, a positive association was found between pain intensity and avoidance). Among the low severity group, direct effects of perfectionism (p < 0.05) and pain intensity (p = 0.04) were found (although the latter only for high pain situations); moderation effects were found in high pain situations (p = 0.018) (for high levels of perfectionism a positive and significant association was found between pain intensity and avoidance). Perfectionism has been found to be a key variable in the differential relationship between pain intensity (in high pain situations) and activity avoidance in groups with high and low disease severity.

Keywords: activity avoidance; fibromyalgia; pain; perfectionism.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A cognitive-behavioral model of pain-related fear (based on Vlaeyen et al. [23]).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relationship between pain intensity in high pain situations and activity avoidance at different levels of perfectionism in patients with high disease severity.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relationship between pain intensity in high pain situations and activity avoidance at different levels of perfectionism in patients with low/moderate disease severity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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