The Role of Mindfulness in Predicting Pain Interference in Patients with Primary Headache

Primary headaches are one of the most troubled chronic diseases. Headaches interfere within the various dimensions of the patient's life. Coping strategies that aim to be attention focused (e.g., mindfulness) may moderate pain-related emotional and physical interference.

This investigation examined the relationship between mindfulness and pain intensity with physical and emotional interference and the subsequent aim was to analyze the role of mindfulness and headache severity combination in the prediction of pain-related interference.

This correlational study was conducted during years 2017 to 2018 at Imam Hossein Hospital of Tehran province. Eighty-five patients (56 females and 29 males), who had one type of primary headache were selected through purposive sampling after the diagnosis by a neurologist. The data were collected through the brief pain inventory (BPI) and the mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS). All data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Bivariate correlation matrix and hierarchical stepwise linear regression statistics were used.

The correlational analysis of the results indicated significant association between mindfulness (MAAS) and pain severity (BPI) (P < 0.01) as well as the findings of the study point to the significant relationship between mindfulness and both physical and emotional pain-related interference (P < 0.01). The results of stepwise linear regression indicated that pain severity explains only 1% of the total score in emotional pain-related interference (P = 0.003 and ΔF (1 and 83) = 9.22, ΔR² = 0.11). Adding mindfulness to the model led to a 43% increase of the explained variance (R² Change = 0.34). In physical interference, although pain severity was able to predict pain interference (P = 0.01 and ΔF (1 and 83) = 7.09, ΔR² = 0.07), a combination model justifies 10% of the interference variance that was not statistically meaningful (P = 0.08, ΔR² = 0.103).

This result is a further support that Mindful Awareness contributed to emotional pain-related interference prediction. This result can explain the role of attention focused and mindful awareness in primary headache pain adjustment.