5. Reported associations for studies measuring functional limitations.
| Study | Sample size | Expectation measure | Outcome measure | Outcome follow‐up period | Study reported effect; variance measure | Common effect size (lnOR)a | Standard error | Reported direction of associationb |
| Bishop 2015 | 420 | Self‐efficacy: Chronic Pain Self‐Efficacy for Pain Management subscale (0 ‐ 100, higher = better) | RMDQ (0 ‐ 24, higher = worse) | 6 months | B; SE | 0.07 | 0.02 | + |
| Casey 2008 | 84 | General: Pain Behaviour and Perception Inventory, pain permanence subscale (−2 to +2, higher = worse) | Pain‐Disability Index (0 ‐ 70, higher = worse) | 3 months | B; SE | 5.64 | 1.43 | + |
| Demmelmaier 2010 | 256 | General: Pain expectations (sum of 2 7‐pt rating scales; 1 adapted from OMPQ; 0 ‐ 12, higher = worse) | Disability score from Graded Chronic Pain Scale (0 ‐ 30, higher = worse) | 12 months | B; SE | 1.04 | 0.39 | + |
| Dionne 1997 | 490 | General: Expectation of continued pain (4‐pt) | RMDQ (16‐item, higher = worse) | 24 months | Pc | N/Ad | N/A | Ø |
| Goldstein 2002 | 650 | Treatment: Treatment confidence, NRS (0 ‐ 10, higher = better) | RMDQ (0 ‐ 24, higher = worse) | 6 months | B; 95% CI | 0.65 | 0.43 | Ø |
| Karjalainen 2003 | 161 | General: Perceived risk of not recovering (0 – 10, 2‐unit change required, 5‐pt, higher = worse) | ODI (0 ‐ 100, higher = worse) | 12 months | B; 95% CI | 2.21 | 0.34 | + |
| Kongsted 2014 | 928 | General: Likelihood of recovery (0 ‐ 10, higher = better) | RMDQ (0 ‐ 24, higher = worse) | 12 months | R2; P | N/Ad | N/A | + |
| Macedo 2014 | 172 | Self‐efficacy: Pain Self‐Efficacy Questionnaire (0 ‐ 100), dichotomised at median as high vs low for analyses | Patient‐Specific Functional Scale (0 ‐ 10, higher = better) | 12 months | B; 95% CI | 1.11d | 0.50 | + |
| Morlock 2002 | 111 | Treatment: Expected benefit from treatment (5 items, each 1 ‐ 5; 0 ‐ 100 reported, higher = better) | NASS scale (0 ‐ 100, higher = worse) | 12 months | B; P | 14.20 | 5.51 | + |
| Myers 2007 | 365 | General: How much improvement do you expect in 6 weeks? (0 ‐ 10, higher = better) | Improvement in RMDQ (0 ‐ 23, higher = better) | 3 months | B; 95% CI | 0.59 | 0.20 | + |
| Sherman 2009 | 638 | Self‐efficacy: Likelihood of self‐managing future back pain (unclear scale, higher = better), dichotomised as top tertile vs low two tertiles | RMDQ (0 ‐ 23, higher = worse) | 12 months | B; SE | 0.20 | 1.00 | Ø |
| Tran 2015ae | 63 | Treatment: How helpful do you expect yoga to be for your back problems? (0 ‐ 10, higher = better) | Change in RMDQ (0 ‐ 24, higher = better) | 3 months | MD; P | −0.43d | 0.55 | Ø |
| Tran 2015be | 30 | Treatment: How helpful do you expect yoga to be for your back problems? (0 ‐ 10, higher = better) | Change in RMDQ (0 ‐ 24, higher = better) | 3 months | MD; P | −0.28d | 0.5 | Ø |
| Underwood 2007 | 700 | Treatment: Treatment helpfulness (3‐pt, not helpful, helpful, very helpful), very helpful vs not helpful compared here | RMDQ (0 ‐ 24) | 12 months | B; 95% CI | 0.60 | 0.54 | Ø |
Table 5. Description of the reported associations between the primary expectations measure and function outcomes, including presentation as common natural log odds effect size and standard error. Results presented are from the best adjusted multivariate model, when available, selecting the available study time period in study closest to 12 months (positive association in 9 studies; no association in 5 studies (6 groups)).
aAll reported associations have been converted to the natural log odds (lnOR) scale and the same direction when possible; lnOR > 1 indicates a positive direction of association between expectations and outcome. bDirection of association: + = positive, associated with better outcome; Ø = neutral, no association with outcome; ‐ = negative, associated with worse outcome cStatistical significance only reported for this study. dStudy where results are from unadjusted models. eTran 2015a received twice‐weekly yoga; Tran 2015b received once‐weekly yoga. lnOR = natural log of the odds ratio; RMDQ = Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire; B = beta coefficient; SE = standard error; OMPQ = Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire; P = p‐value; N/A = data not available or data conversions were not appropriate, but direction of association is reported; NRS = pain numeric rating scale; ODI = Oswestry Disability Index; NASS = North American Spine Society scale; MD = mean difference.