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Meaning in life in chronic pain patients over time: associations with pain experience and psychological well-being

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Abstract

We explored the relationship between meaning in life and adjustment to chronic pain in a three-wave, 2 year, longitudinal study of 273 Belgian chronic pain patients. We examined the directionality of the relationships among the meaning in life dimensions (Presence of Meaning and Search for Meaning) and indicators of adjustment (depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, pain intensity, and pain medication use). We found that Presence of Meaning was an important predictor of well-being. Secondly, we used a typological methodology to distinguish meaning in life profiles, and the relationship of individual meaning in life profiles with indicators of adjustment. Five meaning in life profiles emerged: High Presence High Search, High Presence Low Search, Moderate Presence Moderate Search, Low Presence Low Search, and Low Presence High Search. Each meaning in life profile was associated with a unique adjustment outcome. Profiles that scored high on Presence of Meaning showed more optimal adjustment. The profiles showed little change over time and did not moderate the development of adjustment indicators, except for life satisfaction. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. The current study is part of an ongoing international study on spirituality and pain. To match the questionnaires of the research partners whose data already was collected, we used the same 8 items of the CESD. Those items were ‘I felt depressed’, ‘I felt everything I did was an effort’, ‘My sleep was restless’, ‘I was happy’, ‘People were unfriendly’, ‘I enjoyed life’, ‘I felt that people disliked me’, and ‘I could not get going’.

  2. The exact statistical results for the non-significant findings can be requested at the first author.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Flemish Pain League for the collaboration in the data collection of this study. This study was partially supported by FWO Grant Project 1.2B71.12 (to JD). Writing of this study was partially supported by NIH Grant No. K23DA030397 (to AW).

Conflict of interest

Jessie Dezutter, Koen Luyckx, and Amy Wachholtz declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee of the KULeuven and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, Postbox 3722, 3000, Louvain, Belgium

    Jessie Dezutter

  2. Research Group School and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, Postbox 3722, 3000, Louvain, Belgium

    Koen Luyckx

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Ave North, Worcester, MA, 01655, USA

    Amy Wachholtz

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  1. Jessie Dezutter
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Correspondence to Jessie Dezutter.

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Dezutter, J., Luyckx, K. & Wachholtz, A. Meaning in life in chronic pain patients over time: associations with pain experience and psychological well-being. J Behav Med 38, 384–396 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-014-9614-1

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