Abstract

Background: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the leading cause of disability among working-age adults worldwide. Psychological factors, such as pain selfefficacy, rooted in Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, increasingly shape outcomes alongside pain intensity and pathology. Objective: This study examined pain self-efficacy as a predictor of disability and kinesiophobia in adults with CLBP undergoing physiotherapy in Surat, Gujarat, India. Methods: A cross-sectional, correlational design recruited 100 adults aged 18-60 years with nonspecific CLBP lasting over 12 weeks and moderate-to-severe pain intensity. Gujarati-validated versions of the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-17) were used to measure self-efficacy, disability, and kinesiophobia, respectively. Pearson's correlation and simple linear regression were used to test the relationships between self-efficacy and each outcome. Results: Self-efficacy correlated negatively with disability (r=-0.42, p<0.0001) and kinesiophobia (r=-0.25, p=0.013). In contrast, disability and kinesiophobia showed no significant correlation in this sample (r = 0.16, p=0.117). Self-efficacy significantly predicted disability, explaining 17.7% of its variance in a simple regression model (β=-0.578, p<0.0001). It predicted kinesiophobia more weakly, explaining 6.1% of the variance (β = -0.171, p=0.013).

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