Liesbet Goubert
Ghent University
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Publication
Featured researches published by Liesbet Goubert.
Pain | 2002
Stefaan Van Damme; Geert Crombez; Patricia Bijttebier; Liesbet Goubert; Boudewijn Van Houdenhove
&NA; This study examined the factor structure of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale in three different Dutch‐speaking samples: 550 pain‐free students, 162 chronic low back pain patients, and 100 fibromyalgia patients. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to compare three different models of pain catastrophizing (one factor, two oblique factors, three oblique factors), and to investigate the invariance of the factor structure across the three different samples. The results indicated that a three‐factor oblique model with a four‐item rumination factor, a three‐item magnification factor, and a six‐item helplessness factor provided the best fit to the data in the three samples. Furthermore, it was found that this model could be considered as invariant across three samples (pain‐free students, chronic low back pain patients, and fibromyalgia patients) and across gender, indicating that the same processes are measured in different subgroups.
Pain | 2005
Liesbet Goubert; Kenneth D. Craig; Tine Vervoort; Stephen Morley; Mjl Sullivan; Acd Williams; Annmarie Cano; Geert Crombez
Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Research Institute for Psychology & Health, Utrecht, The Netherlands Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Academic Unit of Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
Pain | 2003
Geert Crombez; Patricia Bijttebier; Christopher Eccleston; Tamara Mascagni; Gustaaf Mertens; Liesbet Goubert; Katrien Verstraeten
Catastrophizing about pain has emerged as a critical variable in how we understand adjustment to pain in both adults and children. In children, however, current methods of measuring catastrophizing about pain rely on brief subscales of larger coping inventories. Therefore, we adapted the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (Sullivan et al., 1995) for use in children, and investigated its construct and predictive validity in two studies. Study 1 revealed that in a community sample (400 boys, 414 girls; age range between 8 years 9 months and 16 years 5 months) the Pain Catastrophizing Scale for Children (PCS‐C) assesses the independent but strongly related dimensions of rumination, magnification and helplessness that are subsumed under the higher‐order construct of pain catastrophizing. This three factor structure is invariant across age groups and gender. Study 2 revealed in a clinical sample of children with chronic or recurrent pain (23 girls, 20 boys; age range between 8 years 3 months and 16 years 6 months) that catastrophizing about pain had a unique contribution in predicting pain intensity beyond gender and age, and in predicting disability, beyond gender, age and pain intensity. The function of pain catastrophizing is discussed in terms of the facilitation of escape from pain, and of the communication of distress to significant others.
Pain | 2004
Liesbet Goubert; Geert Crombez; Stefaan Van Damme
&NA; The present study aimed at clarifying the precise role of pain catastrophizing, pain‐related fear and personality dimensions in vigilance to pain and pain severity by means of structural equation modelling. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 122 patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain. Results revealed that pain catastrophizing and pain‐related fear mediated the relationship between neuroticism and vigilance to pain. Furthermore, vigilance to pain was found to be associated with heightened pain severity. Finally, we found that neuroticism moderated the relationship between pain severity and catastrophic thinking about pain. The results strongly support the idea that vigilance to pain is dependent upon catastrophic thinking and pain‐related fear. Neuroticism is best conceived of as a vulnerability factor; it lowers the threshold at which pain is perceived as threatening, and at which catastrophic thoughts about pain emerge.
European Journal of Pain | 2004
Jeffrey Roelofs; Liesbet Goubert; Madelon L. Peters; Johan Vlaeyen; Geert Crombez
The present study attempted to replicate the robustness of a two‐factor model of the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK) in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients and fibromyalgia patients, by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Construct and predictive validity of the TSK subscales were also examined. Results clearly indicated that a two‐factor model fitted best in both pain samples. These two factors were labelled somatic focus, which reflects the belief in underlying and serious medical problems, and activity avoidance, which reflects the belief that activity may result in (re)injury or increased pain. Construct validity of the TSK and its subscales was supported by moderate correlation coefficients with self‐report measures of pain‐related fear, pain catastrophising, and disability, predominantly in patients with CLBP. Predictive validity was supported by moderate correlation coefficients with performance on physical performance tests (i.e., lifting tasks, bicycle task) mainly in CLBP patients. Implications of the results are discussed and directions for future research are provided.
Psychological Bulletin | 2011
Thomas Hadjistavropoulos; Kenneth D. Craig; Steve Duck; Annmarie Cano; Liesbet Goubert; Philip L. Jackson; Jeffrey S. Mogil; Pierre Rainville; Michael J. L. Sullivan; Amanda C. de C. Williams; Tine Vervoort; Theresa Dever Fitzgerald
We present a detailed framework for understanding the numerous and complicated interactions among psychological and social determinants of pain through examination of the process of pain communication. The focus is on an improved understanding of immediate dyadic transactions during painful events in the context of broader social phenomena. Fine-grain consideration of social transactions during pain leads to an appreciation of sociobehavioral events affecting both suffering persons as well as caregivers. Our examination considers knowledge from a variety of perspectives, including clinical health psychology, social and developmental processes, evolutionary psychology, communication studies, and behavioral neuroscience.
The Clinical Journal of Pain | 2004
Liesbet Goubert; Geert Crombez; Stefaan Van Damme; Johan W.S. Vlaeyen; Patricia Bijttebier; Jeffrey Roelofs
Objectives(1) To investigate the factor structure of the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK) in a Dutch-speaking sample of chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients using confirmatory factor analysis, (2) to examine whether the internal structure of the TSK extends to another group of fibromyalgia (FM) patients, and (3) to investigate the stability of the factor structure in both patient groups using multi-sample analysis. Patients and MethodsTSK-data from 8 studies collected in Dutch and Flemish chronic pain patients were pooled. For 188 CLBP patients and 89 FM patients, complete data were available. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed to assess 4 models of kinesiophobia, and to examine which factor model provided the best fit. Furthermore, a multi-sample analysis was performed to investigate the stability of the factor structure in both patient groups. ResultsFor both CLBP and FM patients, the 2-factor model containing the factors “activity avoidance” and “pathologic somatic focus” was superior as compared with the 4-factor model containing the factors “harm,” “fear of (re)injury.” “importance of exercise,” and “avoidance of activity”. Moreover, the 2-factor model was found to be invariant across CLBP and FM patients, indicating that this model is robust in both pain samples. DiscussionAs the 2-factor structure provided the best fit of the data in both patient samples, we recommend to use this version of the TSK and its 2 subscales in both clinical practice and research. Based on the content of the items, the subscales were labeled “Harm” and “Fear-avoidance.”
Pain | 2006
Liesbet Goubert; Christopher Eccleston; Tine Vervoort; Abbie Jordan; Geert Crombez
Abstract Numerous studies have found evidence for the role of catastrophizing about pain in adjustment to pain in both adults and children. However, the social context influencing pain and pain behaviour has been largely ignored. Especially in understanding the complexities of childhood pain, family processes may be of major importance. In line with the crucial role of pain catastrophizing in explaining adjustment and disability in adults and children, this study investigates the role of parental catastrophic thinking about their child’s pain in explaining child disability and parental distress. To study parental catastrophizing, a parent version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS‐P) was developed. An oblique three‐factor structure emerged to best fit the data in both a sample of parents of schoolchildren (N = 205) and in a sample of parents of children with chronic pain (N = 107). Moreover, this three‐factor structure was found to be invariant across both parent samples. Further, in the clinical sample, parents’ catastrophic thinking about their child’s pain had a significant contribution in explaining (a) childhood illness‐related parenting stress, parental depression and anxiety, and (b) the child’s disability and school attendance, beyond the child’s pain intensity.
BMC Public Health | 2012
Veerle Van Holle; Benedicte Deforche; Jelle Van Cauwenberg; Liesbet Goubert; Lea Maes; Nico Van de Weghe; Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij
BackgroundIn the past decade, various reviews described the relationship between the physical environment and different physical activity (PA) domains. Yet, the majority of the current review evidence relies on North American/Australian studies, while only a small proportion of findings refer to European studies. Given some clear environmental differences across continents, this raises questions about the applicability of those results in European settings. This systematic review aimed at summarizing Europe-specific evidence on the relationship between the physical environment and different PA domains in adults.MethodsSeventy eligible papers were identified through systematic searches across six electronic databases. Included papers were observational studies assessing the relationship between several aspects of the physical environment and PA in European adults (18-65y). Summary scores were calculated to express the strength of the relationship between each environmental factor and different PA domains.ResultsConvincing evidence on positive relationships with several PA domains was found for following environmental factors: walkability, access to shops/services/work and the composite factor environmental quality. Convincing evidence considering urbanization degree showed contradictory results, dependent on the observed PA domain. Transportation PA was more frequently related to the physical environment than recreational PA. Possible evidence for a positive relationship with transportation PA emerged for walking/cycling facilities, while a negative relationship was found for hilliness. Some environmental factors, such as access to recreational facilities, aesthetics, traffic- and crime-related safety were unrelated to different PA domains in Europe.ConclusionsGenerally, findings from this review of European studies are in accordance with results from North American/Australian reviews and may contribute to a generalization of the relationship between the physical environment and PA. Nevertheless, the lack of associations found regarding access to recreational facilities, aesthetics and different forms of safety are likely to be Europe-specific findings and need to be considered when appropriate interventions are developed. More research assessing domain-specific relationships with several understudied environmental attributes (e.g., residential density) is needed.
European Journal of Pain | 2004
Liesbet Goubert; Geert Crombez; Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij
This study investigated the prevalence of back pain, disability, and, of most importance, the presence of misconceptions about low back pain (LBP), its diagnosis and treatment in a bicultural community sample (Belgium). Using the Graded Chronic Pain Scale [Pain 50 (1992) 133] persons were classified according to pain intensity and disability in five subgroups. The interrelationship between LBP beliefs and these five subgroups was also investigated. In our sample (n=1624) the 6‐month prevalence of low back pain was 41.8%. Only in 8.2% back pain was disabling. Misconceptions about back pain were widespread, even in the group reporting no back pain. The least misconceptions were found to exist in participants with mild LBP without disability. It is suggested that recovery from an episode of acute low back pain is an active process that involves a correction of beliefs about harm, about the need to restrict physical activities and about medical diagnosis and cure. Finally, it is argued that community actions may be useful to correct LBP myths in order to prevent the development of long‐term disability due to LBP.