Significant Other Support and Hindrance for Intervention Tasks: Implications for Interventions to Improve Health and Well-Being.

Abstract

Pain coping skills training (PCST) is the predominant behavioral intervention for chronic pain. Benefiting from PCST necessitates that individuals not only complete the training sessions but also integrate the new skills into their daily lives. However, the extent to which the social context influences the ability to use and benefit from this training is not yet fully understood. This study assessed social support and hindrance from significant others in individuals with hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA) and associated pain (N = 55). Participants completed an 8-session, internet-based PCST program as part of a randomized controlled trial using a measure developed for this study of social support and hindrance for intervention tasks. Our findings revealed that participants expected more support than they received (p < .001) and that lower pre-intervention expectations of hindrance correlated with less hindrance received (p = .047). Hierarchical regression models showed that expected and received support and hindrance were not associated with regular skill use, although having a college education or higher was associated with this outcome (β = .50, p = .001). Expected and received support and hindrance did not account for a significant proportion of the variation in changes in pain intensity or pain-related interference with functioning. In contrast, received support was associated with greater change in self-efficacy for pain management, controlling for other variables in the model (β = .40, p = .01), underscoring a unique role for received support in relation to improvements in confidence for managing OA pain.