The moderation of resilience on the negative effect of pain on depression and post-traumatic growth in individuals with spinal cord injury

Purpose: To determine the moderating effect of resilience on the negative effects of chronic pain on depression and post-traumatic growth. Method: Community-dwelling individuals with SCI (n = 37) were recruited at short-term admission for yearly regular health examination. Participants completed self-rating standardized questionnaires measuring pain, resilience, depression and post-traumatic growth. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed to identify the moderating effect of resilience on the relationships of pain with depression and post-traumatic growth after controlling for relevant covariates. Results: In the regression model of depression, the effect of pain severity on depression was decreased (β was changed from 0.47 to 0.33) after entering resilience into the model. In the final model, both pain and resilience were significant independent predictors for depression (β = 0.33, p = 0.038 and β = -0.47, p = 0.012, respectively). In the regression model of post-traumatic growth, the effect of pain severity became insignificant after entering resilience into the model. In the final model, resilience was a significant predictor (β = 0.51, p = 0.016). Conclusions: Resilience potentially mitigated the negative effects of pain. Moreover, it independently contributed to reduced depression and greater post-traumatic growth. Our findings suggest that resilience might provide a potential target for intervention in SCI individuals.