Interrelation of Individual Characteristics (Personal Traits and Locus of Control) of Patients with Chronic Pain with Their Psychological Well-Being

Chronic pain is a very prevalent condition with complex underlying mechanisms, variability in disease course and treatment outcomes, which often requires a multidisciplinary approach for its better understanding and management. Research data demonstrate that chronic pain leads not only to physical suffering and disability, but affects psychological well-being (PWB) of patients as well. However, in clinical settings patient’s PWB often is either out of focus or resembles as quality of life (QoL), yet it is a more complex construct, including gedonic and eudaimonic components. Since the leading role in PWB is assigned to personal characteristics, we aimed to investigate how personal traits (such as Neuroticism, Conscientiousness and locus of control (LoC)) interplay with each component of PWB in patients with chronic pain. We conducted cross-sectional correlational study and recruited 91 patients with chronic pain. The results demonstrate that personal traits differently affect each component of PWB - for both gedonic and eudaimonic PWB the significant predictor was LoC (internal LoC was positively related and external LoC was negatively related to these aspects of PWB); for Neuroticism was demonstrated negative interrelation with eudaimonic well-being, for Conscientiousness - positive interrelation with eudaimonic well-being and QoL. Also, we found moderation effect of internal LoC on an interrelation of Neuroticism and QoL and external LoC for an interrelation of Conscientiousness and eudaimonic PWB. The results of our study have practical significance: for patients with chronic pain additional interventions on an increase of LoC might be helpful for improving their PWB and as a result, overall clinical outcome.