The Influence of Personality Type on Patient Outcome Measures and Therapeutic Alliance in Patients with Low Back Pain

Low back pain (LBP) has been shown to have various biological, psychological, and social factors that affect prognosis. However, it is unclear how personality may influence self-reported outcome measures and therapeutic alliance (TA).

Eysenck's personality inventory was used to assess personality, while the numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK), Global Rating of Change (GROC), and the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) measured patient progress and relationship strength. All outcome measures were formulated in a single survey that both the therapist and patient completed electronically.

Sixty-seven patients with LBP and twenty-two licensed physical therapists participated. For personality measures, there was a significant positive correlation between neuroticism and GROC (rho = 0.295, p = 0.015) and a significant negative correlation between extraversion and WAI (rho = -0.243, p = 0.048). Significant correlations were found between ODI and TSK (rho = 0.462, p ≤ 0.001) and between ODI and GROC (rho = -0.416, p ≤ 0.001). A significant negative correlation was found between TSK and GROC (rho = -0.301, p = 0.013).

Patients with higher levels of disability seemed to report higher levels of kinesiophobia and less overall improvement in physical therapy. Patients classified as neurotic reported higher levels of improvement while extraverted patients demonstrated a weaker therapeutic alliance with their therapist.