Self-efficacy for arthritis pain: relationship to perception of thermal laboratory pain stimuli.
OBJECTIVE
To examine how self-efficacy for arthritis pain relates to the perception of controlled laboratory pain stimuli.


METHODS
Forty patients with osteoarthritis completed self-report measures of self-efficacy for arthritis pain. They then participated in a single experimental session in which measures of thermal pain threshold and tolerance were collected, as well as measures of the perceived intensity and unpleasantness of a range of thermal pain stimuli.


RESULTS
Correlational analyses revealed that patients reporting high self-efficacy for arthritis pain rated the thermal pain stimuli as less unpleasant than those reporting low self-efficacy. When subjects scoring very high and very low in self-efficacy were compared, it was found that subjects scoring high on self-efficacy for arthritis pain had significantly higher pain thresholds and pain tolerance than those scoring low on self-efficacy.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that self-efficacy for arthritis pain is related to judgments of thermal pain stimuli. Implications for the understanding of arthritis pain and for future laboratory research are discussed.
Keefe
F J
FJ
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Lefebvre
J C
JC
Maixner
W
W
Salley
A N
AN
Caldwell
D S
DS
D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000150:complications*; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012648:Self Care