The Relationship Between Emotional Schema and Pain Perception in the Elderly: The Mediation Role of Emotional Regulation

According to the ever-increasing trend of the elderly population in Iran, addressing issues related to this group of the society appears to be of great importance. In this regard, the purpose of the present study was to consider the mediating role of emotional regulation in the relationship between emotional schema and pain perception in the elderly. The statistical population of the current study included all the elderly members of the centers for aging in Shiraz, Iran, among whom 251 (104 male, 147 female) who suffer from pain at least in one area of their body, were selected using convenience sampling. Data were gathered using Leahy’s Emotional Schema Scale (LESS), Gratz and Roemer’s Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS) as well as the McGill’s Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), and were analyzed by Structural Equations Modeling in SPSS-24 and LISREL- 10.20 software. The results of Structural Equations Modeling indicated that the extracted model has a good fit with the empirical data. Moreover, results revealed that using limited emotional regulation strategies is able to mediating the relationship between emotional schemas of consensus, rumination, expression and numbness with pain perception in the elderly. Therefore, according to the role that emotional schemas and difficulties in emotional regulation can paly in predicting the pain perception in elderly, paying attention to these factors in preparing education and therapeutic intervention seems crucial.