Connecting the Dots: A Psychosocial Network Approach to Chronic Pain

In this study we explore the relative contributions of psychological, social and societal factors to chronic pain outcomes. Our specific research questions are as follows: 1. How do pain intensity, depression, anxiety, pain-related worry and beliefs that pain means harm interact and uniquely contribute to chronic pain disability in the current sample? (aimed at replication) 2. How do psychological, social and societal variables interact with each other and uniquely contribute to chronic pain outcomes? Previous network studies have focused on a limited set of psychological variables. Based on these, we expect a dense network of positive relationships for question 1, with pain intensity and depression being most strongly related to disability. For question 2, we expect social and societal variables will have unique connections with pain intensity and disability beyond what psychological variables can explain. Network studies that included a larger range of psychosocial variables (10-15) have found medium-to-low density structures.