Investigating acceptance in adjustment to chronic pain: Is acceptance broader than we thought?

Research on the role of acceptance in adjustment to persisting pain has been facilitated by the development of the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ). However, to date the CPAQ has been used to explore acceptance of pain without taking into account the likely contribution of other cognitive variables that have been shown to influence adjustment to persisting pain. This study examined the role of pain acceptance, as measured by the CPAQ, in accounting for adjustment to pain when controlling for the effects of other cognitive variables. The results indicated that while the Activity engagement subscale of the CPAQ was predictive of depression severity, neither of the CPAQ’s two subscales was predictive of pain severity or physical disability. These findings differ from some reported previously and they suggest that the CPAQ, by itself, may not be sufficient to explain the processes of acceptance of pain and, hence, adjustment to pain. The findings also indicate that the Pain willingness subscale of the CPAQ is not robust and should be discarded. A broader approach to investigating acceptance of pain is proposed.