The Prediction of Experienced Pain Based on the Mediating Role of Psychological Flexibility in the Relationship between Meta Cognition and Meta Emotion in Patients with Leukemia (Blood cancer)

Pain is an unpleasant experience, usually accompanied by potential or actual tissue injury, and is composed of emotional, sensory, cognitive, and social components. Past research has shown that both cognitive and emotional factors play a significant role in experiencing pain. An important complication of cancer is pain. More than 70 % of cancer patients experience disease-related pain. The cancer-caused chronic pain affects the quality of life of people with cancer. It also increases the risk of depression and anxiety in these patients. Psychological factors play a significant role in how patients adapt to pain. The research design was descriptive-correlational and the statistical population included people with Leukemia who had referred to clinics and hospitals in Yazd for treatment and chemotherapy. In total, 240 individuals were selected by convenient sampling method. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between metacognitions, meta-emotions, psychological flexibility and experienced pain. The presence of negative emotions and decreased mental flexibility was associated with increased pain. The role of psychological flexibility as a mediating variable between metacognition and meta-emotion with the amount of pain experienced was confirmed. It was demonstrated that metacognitions and meta-emotions, through psychological flexibility affect the degree of the pain experienced.