Health-related guilt in chronic primary pain: A systematic review of evidence
Health-related guilt in chronic primary pain: A systematic review of evidence
Purpose
Chronic primary pain conditions are characterized by significant functional disability, emotional distress, and diagnostic uncertainty. Health-related guilt associated with coping and living with chronic pain is poorly understood. There had been no attempts to synthesize findings on health-related guilt across studies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a systemic review of evidence, to enable an understanding of the role of health-related guilt in chronic primary pain, and to provide directions for future research.
Method
A search strategy was developed based on our eligibility criteria. Four databases (PsycINFO, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science) were searched for relevant papers from inception to 8 July 2020. Data from 12 qualitative and six quantitative studies were synthesized narratively.
Results
The review of qualitative studies resulted in three themes, relating to the management of pain, diagnostic uncertainty/legitimizing pain, and how participants’ actions or inactions affect others. These findings were integrated with evidence from quantitative studies, which showed that higher levels of guilt were associated with more pain and pain interference, functional impairment, and poorer psychological and social functioning.
Conclusions
The findings demonstrate that health-related guilt is an important psychological factor associated with more pain and poorer function in people with chronic primary pain conditions. Future research should examine health-related guilt as a potential mediating/moderating factor leading to more distress and suffering in this population and as a potential target for interventions.
67 - 95
Serbic, Danijela
9b108bdc-52dd-4374-9aed-1f57991c92df
Evangeli, Michael
d075d96e-8977-4156-81f3-4da6cb4ed241
Probyn, Katrin
2604caf4-b2bf-4f9e-a19f-16046cb6e4e4
Pincus, Tamar
55388347-5d71-4fc0-9fd2-66fbba080e0c
Serbic, Danijela
9b108bdc-52dd-4374-9aed-1f57991c92df
Evangeli, Michael
d075d96e-8977-4156-81f3-4da6cb4ed241
Probyn, Katrin
2604caf4-b2bf-4f9e-a19f-16046cb6e4e4
Pincus, Tamar
55388347-5d71-4fc0-9fd2-66fbba080e0c
Serbic, Danijela, Evangeli, Michael, Probyn, Katrin and Pincus, Tamar
(2021)
Health-related guilt in chronic primary pain: A systematic review of evidence.
British Journal of Health Psychology, 27, .
(doi:10.1111/bjhp.12529).
Abstract
Purpose
Chronic primary pain conditions are characterized by significant functional disability, emotional distress, and diagnostic uncertainty. Health-related guilt associated with coping and living with chronic pain is poorly understood. There had been no attempts to synthesize findings on health-related guilt across studies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a systemic review of evidence, to enable an understanding of the role of health-related guilt in chronic primary pain, and to provide directions for future research.
Method
A search strategy was developed based on our eligibility criteria. Four databases (PsycINFO, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science) were searched for relevant papers from inception to 8 July 2020. Data from 12 qualitative and six quantitative studies were synthesized narratively.
Results
The review of qualitative studies resulted in three themes, relating to the management of pain, diagnostic uncertainty/legitimizing pain, and how participants’ actions or inactions affect others. These findings were integrated with evidence from quantitative studies, which showed that higher levels of guilt were associated with more pain and pain interference, functional impairment, and poorer psychological and social functioning.
Conclusions
The findings demonstrate that health-related guilt is an important psychological factor associated with more pain and poorer function in people with chronic primary pain conditions. Future research should examine health-related guilt as a potential mediating/moderating factor leading to more distress and suffering in this population and as a potential target for interventions.
Text
British J Health Psychol - 2021 - Serbic - Health‐related guilt in chronic primary pain A systematic review of evidence
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 2 November 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 May 2021
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 467597
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/467597
ISSN: 1359-107X
PURE UUID: 61579ace-b77a-4f29-a175-7760ac3539a0
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Date deposited: 14 Jul 2022 17:17
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:11
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Contributors
Author:
Danijela Serbic
Author:
Michael Evangeli
Author:
Katrin Probyn
Author:
Tamar Pincus
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