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School Self-Concept in Adolescents With Chronic Pain
Deirdre E Logan1,2, Laura S Gray1,2, Christina N Iversen1
1Department of Anesthesia, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital.
Objective:
This study investigated school self-efficacy and sense of school membership (collectively "school self-concept") as potential influences on impaired school function among adolescents with chronic pain, including comparison of adolescents with primary pain to those with disease-based pain and pain-free peers.
Methods:
In all, 264 adolescents (12-17 years old) with primary pain conditions, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or no pain completed measures of functional disability, school functioning, pain characteristics, and school self-concept, the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for School Situations (SEQ-SS), and Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM).
Results:
Both the SEQ-SS and PSSM demonstrated reliability and some validity, with the SEQ-SS more strongly supported. As a group, adolescents with primary pain conditions reported poorer school self-concept. School self-efficacy, but not school belongingness, predicted school functioning later in the school year.
Conclusions:
School self-concept, especially as assessed with the SEQ-SS, is relevant and important to assess when addressing school functioning in youth with chronic pain.