Objective: To describe the coping process over time for patients with whiplash-associated disorders (WAD).
Design: The study was conducted by following patients prospectively for 12 months.
Settings: The orthopaedic clinic at a university hospital.
Subjects: Fifty-three patients out of 59 had complete data-sets.
Main outcome measures: Two measures were used: the Pain Disability Index (PDI) and the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ).
Results: The results showed that the proportion of variance in disability shared with coping increased over time.
Conclusion: The importance of coping as an explanatory factor for disability increased during the one year follow-up. Thus, coping has a crucial role for disability. The possibility of a positive long-term outcome could therefore be improved by teaching patients to use active and adaptive coping strategies shortly after an accident.
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