Self-Compassion, Pain Centrality, and Trust in Physicians Among Chinese Patients with Chronic Pain: A Cross-Sectional...

Background/Objectives: Patients' trust in physicians is important for treatment adherence and health outcomes in chronic pain, yet patients' psychological traits remain underexamined. Self-compassion involves responding to personal suffering with self-kindness, a sense of common humanity, and mindful awareness. This study examined the association between self-compassion and trust in physicians among Chinese patients with chronic pain and explored the indirect association through pain centrality. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 376 eligible hospitalized patients with chronic pain was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. The primary analyses included 367 participants with complete data on the study variables. Participants completed measures of self-compassion, pain centrality, and trust in physicians. Pearson correlations were calculated, and a bootstrap analysis of the indirect association was conducted while controlling for age, sex, 7-day average pain intensity, and log-transformed pain duration. Results: Self-compassion was positively associated with trust in physicians and negatively associated with pain centrality. Pain centrality was negatively associated with trust in physicians, and an indirect association through pain centrality was observed (estimate = 0.054, bootstrap standard error = 0.027, 95% confidence interval [0.0004, 0.1093]), while the direct association remained statistically significant. Conclusions: Self-compassion may represent a positive psychological resource relevant to trust in physicians, and pain centrality may be statistically relevant to this association. These findings support further investigation of both constructs in person-centered chronic pain assessment and care.