ID 461 ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AND TREATMENT NON-ADHERENCE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH CHRONIC PAIN

Chronic Pain (CP) is a major healthcare issue because of its indivdual and heathcare-related burden. CP is a subjective experience where both physical and psychological factors are involved. Indeed people suffering from CP very often experience impairments in personal functioning which may in turn determine a decrease in individuals’quality of life. In this context, non-adherence to prescribed pain medications is very common and may result in sub-optimal treatment outcome. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between psychosocial factors and treatment non-adherence in CP. 118 CP individuals (36.4% male, 63.6% female; mean age 57.1) under analgesic treatment were recruited from the Pain Therapy Clinic of the University of Bari. We assessed treatment adherence (Brief Medication Questionnaire - BMQ), pain severity (Brief Pain Inventory - BPI), and anxiety and depression symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - HADS). Through the BMQ Necessity Concern dimension, we calculated an Adherence Index (difference between BMQ Necessity and BMQ Concern scales). Non-adherent patients (lower quartile of Adherence Index distribution) were significantly younger (53.9510.03, p<0.05), and showed harmful beliefs about medicine (BMQ Harm, 14.212.7, p < 0.01). Adherence scores correlated negatively with Anxiety (r = -0.24, p < 0.05), Depression (r = -0.21, p < 0.05), Pain Severity (r = -0.35, p < 0.001), BMQ Harm (r = -0.33, p < 0.001), and BMQ Overuse (beliefs about over-prescription of medication (r=-0.33, p < 0.0001). These results suggest that, in our sample, non-adherence to pain treatment is characterized by younger age, anxiety, depression, high pain intensity and perceived medicine harmfulness. We suggest that the knowledge of psychosocial variables associated with non-adherence may support clinicians in identifying CP pharmacological treatments with high effectiveness and compliance rate.