Coping style, locus of control, psychological distress and pain-related behaviours in cancer and other diseases

The present study compares patients with cancer and other diseases, focusing on the ways pain is managed through coping style, locus of control, the perceived effectiveness of these strategies, level of distress, and pain-related behaviours. Fifty-one cancer patients with pain and 67 chronic pain patients without cancer completed questionnaires to assess these variables. We compared the responses of cancer and non-cancer patients and also studied relations between coping style and level of distress, and evaluated whether the clinical variables, coping style and locus of control scores could predict level of distress. Significant differences between the samples emerged on clinical, psychological and pain behaviour variables. The no cancer group scored significantly higher on internal locus of control. Greater avoidance predicts higher anxiety, whilst lower internal locus of control, greater avoidance and lower perceived handicap predict higher depression. A passive patient role is therefore associated with poorer adaptation than a more active role.