Post-traumatic stress disorder and pain severity among victims of motor vehicle accidents: the moderating role of patient-care giver interaction

Abstract

Road traffic accidents represent a critical global health challenge, with survivors experiencing both physical injuries and psychological trauma that significantly impair recovery and quality of life. This study examined the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and pain severity among motor vehicle accident victims, with particular focus on whether patient-caregiver interaction quality moderates this relationship. A quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational design was employed with 205 road traffic accident survivors recruited from Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. Pearson correlation analyses revealed significant positive relationships between pain severity and PTSD symptoms: pain severity was moderately correlated with PTSD intrusion (r = .538, p < .001), weakly correlated with PTSD hypervigilance (r = .374, p < .001), and moderately correlated with overall PTSD severity (r = .519, p < .001), indicating that higher pain levels were consistently associated with greater PTSD symptomatology. Patientcaregiver interaction quality demonstrated significant negative correlations with both pain severity (r = -.298, p < .001) and PTSD symptoms, including intrusion (r = -.485, p < .001), hypervigilance (r = -.357, p < .001), and overall PTSD (r = -.373, p < .001), suggesting that higher quality caregiver interactions were associated with reduced pain and lower PTSD symptom severity. However, moderation analysis revealed that patient-caregiver interaction did not significantly moderate the PTSD and pain severity relationship (B = 0.00, SE = 0.00, t = 1.39, p = .17). Findings indicate that while high-quality caregiver interactions independently reduce both pain severity and PTSD symptoms among accident survivors, they do not buffer the direct PTSD and pain severity relationship. The study therefore recommends to include implementation of trauma-focused therapies, that would enhance caregiver education programs to optimize their supportive role that influence recovery trajectories in this vulnerable population of RTA survivors.