Learned Resourcefulness and the Long-Term Benefits of a Chronic Pain Management Program

Abstract

A concurrent mixed methods approach was used to understand how learned resourcefulness empowers individuals. After completing Rosenbaum's Self-Control Schedule (SCS) measuring resourcefulness, 16 past clients of a multimodal pain clinic were interviewed about the kinds of pain-coping strategies they were practicing from the program. Constant comparative analysis of the text-based data revealed striking differences in the type of pain management strategies used by high- and low-resourceful participants. A substantive theory is advanced, whereby introspection and emotion allow for acceptance, which in turn permits the constructive use of social supports and enactment of active, and sometimes creative, pain-coping strategies to engage in meaningful activities.