The Role of Self-efficacy Beliefs in Psychological Symptoms and Clinical Outcomes of Primary Chronic Headache

Objective: Headache is one of the common complaints of referral patients. The prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients with headache is significant. The previous researches suggested the role of self-efficacy of pain in modifying psychological symptoms and improving clinical outcomes. The current study aimed at investigating the role of self-efficacy beliefs of pain in psychiatric symptoms and clinical outcomes of patients with chronic headache. Methods: The current descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 106 patients with chronic primary headache referred to neurology clinics of Guilan University of Medical Sciences from September 2016 to March 2017. Patients responded to questions of pain self-efficacy beliefs scales, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Data were analyzed by multivariate hierarchical regression. Results: The results of Pearson correlation coefficient showed a reverse and significant relationship between pain self-efficacy beliefs and pain severity (r=-0.25, P=0.009). In the regression analysis, after controlling demographic variables, self-efficacy beliefs were able to predict the pain severity scale (F=4.570, P=0.035) and anxiety (F=4.414, P=0.038). There was also a significant non-linear quadratic correlation between the severity of pain with headache frequency (F=3.377, P=0.038). Conclusion: Self-efficacy beliefs are more correlated with the reduction of the severity of pain in chronic headache and can predict it. It seems that these types of beliefs can play a protective role against anxiety and headache frequency in patients with chronic headache.