• Vaughan B
• Mulcahy J
• Allen T
• Gobbo D
• Nasser L
• Pain K
• Fitzgerald K

• Affiliation / University of Melbourne. Melbourne Medical School. Department of Medical Education
• Affiliation / Victoria University. College of Health & Biomedicine
• Affiliation(G) / Australia / Victoria / Melbourne
• Musculoskeletal Diseases / psychology
• Open Access Document
• Osteopathic Medicine
• Patient Reported Outcome Measures
• Patient Satisfaction

Background: Life satisfaction is a component of the subjective well-being construct. Research consistently suggests that life satisfaction is associated with enhanced social benefits and improved health outcomes. However, its relationship to musculoskeletal health outcomes is underexplored. This study evaluates the life satisfaction of a patient population presenting with musculoskeletal complaints, and the relationship of life satisfaction with other health demographics and behaviours.

Method: The study used a consecutive sampling design. Patients attending the Victoria University Osteopathy Clinic (Melbourne, Australia) were invited to complete the PROMIS® General Life Satisfaction scale (GLSS) along with questions related to health demographics and behaviours.

Results: The GLSS T-score was not significantly different for gender, being born outside of Australia, speaking English at home, or complaint chronicity.

Conclusions: Life satisfaction did not appear to be related to a range of health and demographic variables in the current musculoskeletal pain cohort. The PROMIS® General Life Satisfaction scale could prove useful to explore the relationship between life satisfaction and treatment outcomes for musculoskeletal complaints.

Author keywords: Patient report outcome measure — Osteopathic medicine —  Satisfaction with life

Author affiliations: BV: Department of Medical Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; JM, TA, EC, DG, LN, KP: College of Health & Biomedicine, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia; KF: Independent Researcher, Melbourne, Australia

This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher; click on the above link for free full text. PubMed Record