engleski

Coping with headache and quality of life

Background and aims: The relationship between headache and quality of life is complex. Pain is considered to have a detrimental impact on quality of life. In patients with such a chronic condition, increasing and maintaining quality of life becomes a prime health care goal. Coping is an intentional cognitive and behavioural effort to manage stress. The headache pain itself can also be viewed as a stressor that needs to be dealt with. The aim of this study was to investigate pain coping and quality of life of patients with chronic headache. Methods: The sample comprise 96 participants, patients from the outpatient pain clinic, 79 female and 17 male, aged between 18 and 84 years. Pain intensity was assessed with VAS, pain coping was assessed using the Pain Coping and Cognition List (PCCL), and subjective quality of life was assessed with one general question from PWI: How are you satisfied with your life as a whole. Results: Pain catastrophizing showed significant association with quality of life, while the frequency of headaches per month and average intensity did not. Cognitive style of catastrophizing was significantly negatively correlated to subjective quality of life, active coping, and internal locus of control for pain, while positively with external locus of control. Furthermore, internal locus of control was in significant negative correlation with VAS. Conclusions: These results offer practical implications in improving quality of life of patients with chronic headaches by acting on the cognitions and pain coping style.

headache, quality of life, coping

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