Using the self-regulatory model to cluster chronic pain patients: the first step towards identifying relevant treatments?

The pain literature indicates that, despite extensive investigations and recommendations, treatment outcomes can be poor. This study assesses whether a theoretical approach using the self-regulatory model (SRM) could usefully categorise chronic pain patients on the basis of their illness representations, since these have been shown to influence outcomes for other health-related conditions. One hundred and thirty newly referred patients of a pain relief clinic completed the revised Illness Perceptions Questionnaire and other measures. Cluster analysis supported the utility of a theoretical model of illness representations to identify pain groups, with the groups so identified differing in measures of pain, mood, and functioning. This study can be viewed as a preliminary step for future research employing stronger design methodologies to explore the validity of the SRM for classifying chronic pain patients, and to compare efficacy of treatment choice and outcome for this population based on illness representations.