Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Headache Impact, Anxiety, and Physical Activity Levels in Patients with Chronic Tension-Type Headache: An Observational Study.

Background: Chronic tension-type headache is the primary headache with the highest prevalence. The present study is aimed at analyzing the associations between patient self-efficacy and headache impact with pain characteristics, kinesiophobia, anxiety sensitivity, and physical activity levels in subjects with chronic tension-type headache.

Materials and Methods: An observational descriptive study was carried out. A total sample of 42 participants was recruited at university environment with diagnosis of tension-type headache. Headache characteristics (frequency, intensity, and duration), physical activity levels, pain related-self-efficacy, kinesiophobia, anxiety sensitivity, and headache impact were measured.

Results: The HIT-6 (61.05 ± 6.38) score showed significant moderate positive correlations with the ASI-3 score (17.64 ± 16.22; r = 0.47) and moderate negative correlations with the self-efficacy in the domains of pain management (31.9 ± 10.28; r = -0.43) and coping with symptoms (53.81 ± 14.19; r = -0.47). ASI-3 score had a negative large correlation with self-efficacy in the domains of pain management ( r = -0.59), physical function (53.36 ± 7.99; r = -0.55), and coping with symptoms ( r = -0.68). Physical activity levels showed positive moderate correlations with the self-efficacy in the domain of physical function ( r = 0.41). Linear regression models determined that the self-efficacy and anxiety sensitivity with showed a significant relationship with the HIT-6 score ( R 2 = 0.262; p = 0.008) and with the ASI-3 score ( R 2 = 0.565; p < 0.001). In addition, no correlations were found between pain intensity, duration or frecuency with psychosocial factors, or headache impact.

Conclusions: The present study showed that patients with chronic tension-type headache had a great negative impact on daily tasks and physical activity levels, which were associated with higher anxiety levels and lower self-efficacy.