Examination of the photograph series of daily activities (PHODA) scale in chronic low back pain patients with high and low kinesiophobia.

The current study examined the Photograph Series of Daily Activities (PHODA) Scale in a sample of chronic low back pain patients with high and low levels of kinesiophobia (pain-related fear). Thirty-three participants completed a modified version of the PHODA (PHODA-M) that obtained ratings of both anticipated pain and harm. Participants' responses on the PHODA-M were compared to predicted and experienced pain and harm ratings collected during a graded-difficulty reaching task. Individuals with high kinesiophobia reported higher pain and harm expectancies for PHODA-M stimuli, as well as greater predicted and experienced pain and harm in response to movement performance. In comparison to low fear participants, high fear participants showed larger correlations between pain expectancies for movements depicted in the PHODA and their ratings of predicted and experienced pain on each movement comprising the reaching task. Additionally, high fear participants showed larger associations between the perceived harmfulness of PHODA activities and predicted and experienced harm ratings in response to the reaching task. Implications for the findings are discussed.