Examining the interaction effects of coping style and brief interventions in the treatment of postsurgical pain

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Abstract
The failure to compare clearly delineated treatments, alone and in combination; and the failure to examine treatment and coping style interactions were studied. Information imparting and brief relaxation were examined as they interacted with an avoidance-sensitization coping style. No differences were found between treatments or coping styles. Sensitizers profited most from the relaxation training. Avoiders appeared to do well when they were left alone. The interaction effect was demonstrated for both self-report measures of pain and a behavioral measure of potency of medications ingested. The effects on self-report of pain were more evident on the 2nd than on the 4th postsurgical day. Evidently, brief relaxation training, often the only kind available to the medical psychologist dealing with surgical patients, is best confined to patients with a sensitizing coping style. These results, in conjunction with a reanalysis of previous studies, cast considerable doubt on information imparting when presented alone as a viable technique for reducing the distress consequent on surgery.