Impact of personality characteristics on pain and functional status in fibromyalgia

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which personality characteristics mediate pain relief and functional improvement as a result of static magnetic therapy to treat fibromyalgia.; Methods. This study was based on a larger parent study that tested the hypothesis that use of a magnetic sleep pad for six months is effective in decreasing pain perception and improving functional status in persons with fibromyalgia. Data on a large number of variables permitted construction of a secondary dataset for the dissertation study that included the personality characteristic variables. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine the effect of personality characteristics, including positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), absorption (ABS), social desirability (MC), and interactions between selected variables on the outcome variables at baseline and at six months.; Results. Data from ninety-seven participants was included in the current study. Results showed that NA and PA were significant individual predictors of pain and functional status. Participants with higher PA reported more optimal levels of functional status at baseline. Participants with higher NA reported more tender points and higher tender point intensity at baseline, as well as less optimal levels of functional status at baseline and at six months. Treatment group assignment was also an important predictor of pain and functional status. Participants in the Magnetico group reported less overall pain intensity and less pain intensity at tender points at six months than those in the standard care group. Participants in the Nikken group reported less pain intensity at tender points than participants in the standard care group.; Conclusions. The static magnetic intervention (sleeping on magnetic sleep pads) was found to be effective in reducing pain and improving functional status in fibromyalgia. Both measures of affect (NA and PA) were found to be significant individual predictors of pain and functional status in persons diagnosed with fibromyalgia. None of the other personality characteristic variables had a significant impact on the outcome variables. It was recommended that in addition to the PANAS, it may be helpful to include instruments designed to measure specific aspects of NA (hypervigilance) and PA (coping).