Mulcahy, Jane (2011) Meaningful daily activity and chronic pain. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

When assessing chronic pain patients (CPP) a series of measures are routinely used to evaluate the severity of symptoms including: pain, psychological distress, disability, illness perception, positive affect and current treatments to manage chronic pain (CP). Clinicians also routinely administer measures of daily activity to determine what activities are being performed and determine how CP inhibits daily functioning, however the meaningfulness of daily activities is not evaluated. The aim of this research was to determine whether CPP who engaged in meaningful daily activity (MDA) reported less severe pain, disability and psychological distress. To test this observation a model of MDA was proposed and tested. One hundred and eight CPP (31 men, 77 women) completed measures of pain, disability, psychological distress, illness perception and dispositional optimism. MDA scales were developed for this study, the Daily Activities Questionnaire (DAQ-R) and the Meaningful Daily Activities Questionnaire (MDAQ-R). The research hypothesis that CPP who participate in more MDA experienced less severe Psychological Distress was confirmed. However, the hypothesis that CPP who participate in more MDA reported less severe Pain and Disability was not supported.

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