Acceptance for persons suffering from pain : Evaluation of acceptance-based interventions for adults with chronic pain and children with cancer experiencing acute pain

Abstract: It is increasingly clear that pain and emotions are closely interconnected. Pain does not only cause psychological distress, but psychological distress also amplifies pain through neurological mechanisms. Treatment of both chronic and acute pain would benefit from acknowledging the psychological mechanisms of pain neurophysiology. Psychological acceptance predicts increased pain tolerance and decreased pain intensity and discomfort in experimentally induced pain and improved physical and psychosocial functioning for persons with chronic pain.The overall aim of this thesis was to evaluate acceptance-based interventions for persons suffering from pain.In Study I the effect of a manualised ACT-based self-help intervention for adults with chronic pain was evaluated in an RCT (n=90). The results showed improvements in satisfaction with life, physical functioning and pain intensity for the ACT group. Both the ACT and the control group improved regarding depression and anxiety. In Study II the mediating effect of acceptance for treatment change was evaluated, using data from Study I (n=64). The results showed indirect effects of treatment via acceptance for physical functioning but not for satisfaction with life. In Studies III and IV, instruments to measure psychological flexibility in relation to pain were developed for children with cancer, and their parents respectively, using factor analysis. The results showed that a two-factor solution for the child scale (n=61) and a three-factor solution for the parent scale (n=243), best represented the data. In Study V, an acceptance-based intervention was preliminarily evaluated in a single-subject study (n=5) for children reporting pain during cancer treatment. The intervention consisted of an approximately 15-minute long pain exposure exercise. All participants reported reduced discomfort of pain, and three of the participants reported reduced pain intensity.The results suggest that a manualised ACT-based self-help intervention is a valuable addition to the treatment repertoire for persons with chronic pain and that acceptance may mediate the effect of treatment on physical functioning. Furthermore, instruments to measure acceptance in the context of acute pain in children with cancer are now available, although further validation is needed. Lastly, the results indicate that an acceptance-based intervention may help children undergoing cancer treatment to cope with pain.