Chronic Pain Resilience Across Clinical Populations: A Concept Analysis

Background

Chronic pain resilience is a concept that is frequently used in research but lacks theoretical clarity. Understanding chronic pain resilience is germane to developing interventions to improve it and the overall quality of life among individuals with chronic pain.

Aims

To uncover and clarify the unique characteristics of the concept of chronic pain resilience.

Design

A concept analysis using Rodgers’ evolutionary method.

Methods

Full-text articles published after 2000 in English were used to inform the concept analysis. Scopus, PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text were utilized for literature searches. Rodgers’ evolutionary approach was used to clarify the attributes, antecedents, and consequences.

Results

The search yielded 31 articles that were used in the analysis. The key attributes of chronic pain resilience included engagement in meaningful activities despite pain, maintaining positive psychological homeostasis, buffering against negative mental outcomes, seeking support, and self-empowerment. After considering surrogate terms, antecedents, attributes, and consequences, chronic pain resilience may be defined as the development of the capacity to successfully adapt to chronic pain. This adaptation results in a move toward optimal social, physical, mental, and behavioral functioning by balancing negative and positive psychosocial factors, despite the additional challenges brought about by living with chronic pain.