Abstract:

Purpose: The pragmatic aim of this study was to show affected factors including pain, disability level, and anxiety of kinesiophobia using structural equation modeling (SEM) in postmenopausal women with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Methods: The study was conducted with 200 women aged 45–75 years. Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia 11, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, and Visual Analog Scale were used. The SEM was also used to analyze the direction and power of complex interactions between kinesiophobia and anxiety, pain intensity, and disability level by using hypothetically designed models. The average pain intensity was 5.98 (2.39). Results: The average age of the women was 58.00±8.39 years. The average menopausal age was 45.75±5.95. The average kinesiophobia point was 25.97±8.57. Anxiety risk score was 14.74±11.27; depression risk score was 12.39±10.51. The SEM analysis outcome showed that the final model was expository kinesiophobia with pain, anxiety, and disability level (chi-square=21.37; df=28; p=0.810). Anxiety was found as a strong mediator in the relationship between kinesiophobia and pain intensity and disability. Conclusion: This study showed that SEM was appropriate method to explain relationships between kinesiophobia and pain, anxiety, and disability. The created model also showed that anxiety was a strong mediator in postmenopausal women with CLBP.

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