S-79 Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology 2020 1 Department of Clinical Psychology, National Distance Education University (UNED), Madrid; 2 Rheumatology Unit, Rehabilitation Institute, University General Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; 3 Gasteiner Heilstollen Hospital, Bad Gastein-Böckstein, Austria; 4 Katholieke University Leuven, Belgium; 5 Department of Psychology, Luther College, Decorah, IA, USA. Miguel A. Vallejo, PhD Laura Vallejo-Slocker, MSc Javier Rivera, MD, PhD Martin Offenbächer, MD Jessie Dezutter, PhD Loren Toussaint, PhD Please address correspondence to: Miguel A. Vallejo, Department of Clinical Psychology, National Distance Education University (UNED), Juan del Rosal, 10, 28040 Madrid, Spain. E-mail: mvallejo@psi.uned.es Received on January 26, 2020; accepted in revised form on February 6, 2020. Clin Exp Rheumatol 2020; 38 (Suppl. 123): S79-S85. © Copyright CliniCal and ExpErimEntal rhEumatology 2020. Key words: forgiveness, fbromyalgia, acceptance, catastrophising, coping Funding: this study was funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Proyectos I+D+I (Retos), Spanish Government under the Grant PSI2017-85447-R. It was also in part funded by the Instituto de la Mujer, Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, Spanish Government under grant 2011-INV-00232. Competing interests: none declared. ABSTRACT Objective. Forgiveness infuences health through numerous mechanisms, but commonly it is thought to reduce stress, increase healthy behaviour, and promote social support, thereby posi- tively impacting health and wellbeing. Self-forgiveness has been given con- siderable attention in relation to health and wellbeing. Fibromyalgia (FM) patients had lower forgiveness of oth- ers and self-forgiveness as compared to controls. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship of self-forgive- ness (FS) with the impact and sever- ity of FM, acceptance, catastrophising, and coping. Methods. We evaluated 228 FM female patients who completed the Mauger Forgiveness Scale, the Combined In- dex of Severity in Fibromyalgia (ICAF) survey, the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ), and the Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS). Results. High self-forgiveness is re- lated to high levels of active coping (r=.41) and acceptation (r=.38), and low self-forgiveness is related to emo- tional negative factors and catastro- phising (r=-.56). Two factors (physi- cal and emotional) were obtained. Lower FS is an emotional factor with negative emotion, catastrophising and a defcit in active coping. A decision- tree analysis showed a frst node with ICAF Emotional scores and a second level with CPAQ and PCS scores as predictors. Conclusion. A notable lack of FS in- dicates a problem (distress and cata- strophising) with the health aspects related to this syndrome. Acceptance could require a low negative emotional status. People with high FS were likely to increase acceptation as the positive component of acceptance in FS. This fnding does not indicate an interest in maintaining problematic behaviours. Introduction Forgiveness is a multidimensional construct with diverse connections to health and wellbeing in both patients and general populations (1). Forgive- ness can be conceptualised in multiple ways, but two common approaches are to consider, i.e. forgiveness of oth- ers and self-forgiveness (2). Forgive- ness is commonly described as a trait or characteristic of an individual that is relatively stable across time and situations (3). Forgiveness infuences health through numerous mechanisms, but commonly it is thought to reduce stress, increase healthy behaviour, and promote social support thereby posi- tively impacting health and wellbeing. Self-forgiveness has been given con- siderable attention and it appears that it may be as, if not more, important as forgiving others in relation to health and wellbeing (4). Indeed, self-forgive- ness has been related to multiple health behaviours and outcomes, such as anx- iety (5), depression (6), coping factors, and health behaviours (7), as well as, conditions such as eating disorders and alcoholism, and chronic problems such as pain or cancer (8). Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome of unknown aetiology characterised by widespread pain, fatigue, sleep altera- tions, and decline in physical function- ing (9). Special importance is given to emotional factors related to FM, mainly mood disturbances, anxiety and stress (10). Individuals suffering from FM need to adapt to a chronic condi- tion that exerts an overwhelming infu- ence on their lives (11). Recently, Offenbäecher et al. (12) compared a sample of FM patients and normal controls and showed that FM patients had lower forgiveness of oth- ers and self-forgiveness as compared to controls. Specifcally, when compared with forgiveness of others, self-forgive- Self-forgiveness in fbromyalgia patients and its relationship with acceptance, catastrophising and coping M.A. Vallejo 1 , L. Vallejo-Slocker 1 , J. Rivera 2 , M. Offenbächer 3 , J. Dezutter 4 , L. Toussaint 5