Exploring pain adaptation in youth with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Identifying youth and parent resilience resources and mechanisms

Although juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is often associated with pain, this experience does not necessitate negative outcomes (e.g., depression, functional impairment). Little research has explored youth and parent resilience resources (i.e., stable traits) and mechanisms (i.e., dynamic processes) in this context, and studies have focused on their contributions independently rather than collectively. This study, informed by the Ecological Resilience-Risk Model in Pediatric Chronic Pain, sought to: 1) explore the relationships amongst youth and parent resilience resources and mechanisms; and 2) identify the relative importance (RI; i.e., independent contributions when entered simultaneously) of evidence-based youth and parent resources and mechanisms in contributing to youth-reported recovery, sustainability, and growth outcomes. Youth (13-18 years) with JIA and their parents (156 dyads) completed a battery of online questionnaires assessing resilience resources (optimism, resilience), mechanisms (psychological flexibility, pain acceptance, self-efficacy), recovery/sustainability (pain intensity, functional disability, health-related quality of life), and growth (benefit finding) outcomes. Analyses demonstrated significant positive correlations across within-person resources and mechanisms, and weaker correlations across within-dyad resources and mechanisms. Although the RI of predictors varied by outcome, youth pain acceptance was the most robust predictor across models (RI=.03-.15). Some predictors (e.g., parent psychological flexibility and pain acceptance) were generally categorized as "Not Important", whereas others (e.g., youth resilience) had "Inconclusive" results, suggesting construct overlap. While additional research is needed to further understand resilience, results highlight the importance of fostering pain acceptance in youth and incorporating parents in psychosocial interventions to optimize living with JIA.