Long-term functioning following XXXX : the role of social support and personality traits.

@entity1 @entity74 @entity7125
Transition from acute @entity7125 to either recovery or chronicity and the development of chronic @entity74 ( @entity74 ) remains a challenging issue for researchers and clinicians. The roles of social support and personality traits in long-term functioning following whiplash have not been studied concomitantly. The present study aimed to examine whether social support and personality traits are related to long-term functioning following whiplash. One hundred forty-three subjects, who had experienced a @entity7125 in a traffic accident 10-26  months before the study took place, participated. The initial diagnoses were a 'sprain of the neck' (ICD-9 code 847.0); only the outcome of grades I-III acute @entity74 was studied. Long-term functioning was considered within the biopsychosocial model: it was expressed in terms of disability, functional status, quality of life and psychological well-being. @entity1 filled out a set of questionnaires to measure the long-term functioning parameters (i.e. the Neck Disability Index, Medical Outcome Study Short-Form General Health Survey, Anamnestic Comparative Self-Assessment measure of overall well-being and the Symptom Checklist-90) and potential determinants of long-term functioning (the Dutch Personality Questionnaire and the Social Support List). The results suggest that social support (especially the discrepancies dimension of social support) and personality traits (i.e. inadequacy, self-satisfaction and resentment) are related to long-term functioning following @entity7125 (Spearman rho varied between 0.32 and 0.57; p   <   0.01). Within the discrepancy dimension, everyday emotional support, emotional support during problems, appreciative support and informative support were identified as important correlates of long-term functioning. Future prospective studies are required to confirm the role of social support and personality traits in relation to long-term functioning following whiplash. For such studies, a broad view of long-term functioning within the biopsychological model should be applied.
