The Clinical journal of pain
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Changes in activity frequently occur as a consequence of ongoing pain. Three activity patterns commonly observed among individuals with ongoing pain are avoidance, overdoing, and pacing. We conducted 2 studies investigating these activity patterns, their interrelationships, and their associations with key psychosocial factors. Study 1 describes the development of a measure, the Patterns of Activity-Pain (POAM-P), to assess these activity patterns; Study 2 examines the psychosocial correlates of these activity patterns. ⋯ The POAM-P has excellent psychometric properties and may be useful in clinical practice to identify activity patterns associated with poorer functioning and to evaluate interventions intended to modify these activity patterns. The present results support previous findings linking avoidance and various negative outcomes. These results also provide evidence that pacing may be related to positive outcomes after treatment.