Predictive utility of the CSQ in low back pain: individual vs. composite measures

Researchers have typically used factor-analytic composite measures of coping, instead of individual scales, to predict rehabilitation outcome. There are, however, both advantages and disadvantages to using individual or composite scores. This study extended the findings of Jensen et al. (1992), by prospectively comparing the individual and composite scores of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ) in the prediction of 4 types of adjustment to low back pain. Two-hundred patients completed the CSQ, the Oswestry Index, the SCL-90R, and 4 lifting tasks at admission and discharge from a multidisciplinary pain clinic. Return to work was determined at 9-month follow-up. The CSQ scales were factor-analyzed to devise composite indices, and the 3 resultant factors were compared to the individual scales in the prediction of pain and other outcomes. The results indicated that the relative predictive utility of the composite or individual scales depended on which outcome measure was used to define adjustment.