title: Do Pain-Related Support Preferences Moderate Relationships Between Chronic Pain Patients' Reports of Support Received and Psychosocial Functioning?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The operant theory of chronic pain and related research suggest pain-related solicitous support promotes disability. The current study investigated the hypotheses that solicitous support is positively associated with both disability and relationship satisfaction and that these relationships are moderated by the level of desire for this type of support.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with chronic pain (N = 147) and in a relationship were recruited from a multidisciplinary pain treatment center. They provided self-reports of the amount of three types of pain-related support wanted and received (i.e., solicitous, encouragement, and suppression), disability, and relationship satisfaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that solicitous support received was not significantly associated with disability. However, a moderation effect was found regarding encouragement. Encouragement received was negatively associated with disability, and this relationship was strongest at lower levels of interest in encouragement. Solicitous support received had a large positive association with relationship satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest the influence of pain-related support is more complex than suggested by the operant conditioning model of chronic pain, which emphasizes the possible detrimental impact of solicitous support. Further research is warranted regarding the potential relationship enhancing effects of solicitous support and the influence of encouragement on disability experienced by those with chronic pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
authors.forename: Lachlan A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: McWilliams
authors.affiliation: The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kowal
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Michelle J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Verrier
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Bruce D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Dick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Encouragement; Operant Conditioning; Relationship Satisfaction; Social Support; Solicitous Support