Previous-day hope frequency, both stable individual differences and day-to-day fluctuations, was associated with next-day quality of life in individuals with chronic pain who were co-using cannabis and opioids.
Key Findings
Results
Between-person differences in hope frequency were significantly associated with next-day quality of life: participants with higher average hope reported higher QoL.
Sample: N = 132 individuals with chronic pain using opioids and cannabis, who completed a baseline survey and 30-day daily diaries.
Linear mixed-effects models tested lagged effects of daily hope frequency on next-day QoL.
The association held after controlling for baseline variables, daily sleep satisfaction, and previous-day QoL.
Results
Within-person fluctuations in hope frequency were significantly associated with next-day QoL: on days when hope was higher than a participant's own average, next-day QoL was higher.
Hope frequency was decomposed into between-person and within-person components.
The within-person association remained significant after controlling for previous-day QoL and sleep satisfaction.
The finding suggests day-to-day changes in hope relate to next-day QoL within the same individual.
Results
Higher baseline hope and baseline QoL scores were associated with higher average QoL over the 30-day period.
Baseline variables were included as covariates in the lagged mixed-effects models.
Both baseline hope and baseline QoL predicted average daily QoL across the 30 days.
Results
Intraindividual variability in hope was not significantly associated with QoL.
Intraindividual variabilities (how much hope fluctuated within a person) were examined as predictors.
Variability in hope did not significantly relate to QoL, unlike the average level and daily deviations in hope.
Methods
The sample was a predominantly male, Non-Hispanic White group of adults with chronic pain who co-used cannabis and opioids.
Mean age = 42.7 (SD = 13.9).
58.3% male; 63.6% Non-Hispanic White.
Observational daily diary design approved by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health IRB (IRB00009327).
What This Means
This study followed 132 adults with chronic pain who used both cannabis and opioids to manage their pain. For 30 days, they reported each day how often they felt hopeful, how good their quality of life was, and how satisfied they were with their sleep. The researchers then looked at whether hope on one day was linked to quality of life on the next day.
They found that people who were generally more hopeful tended to report better quality of life. Within the same person, days with more hope than usual were followed by days with better quality of life. These links held even after accounting for the person's quality of life the previous day and their sleep satisfaction. How much a person's hope bounced around from day to day was not linked to their quality of life.
This research suggests hope may be a useful factor to consider in understanding and supporting well-being among people living with chronic pain. Because the study was observational, it cannot show that hope causes better quality of life. It also involved a specific group (people using cannabis and opioids), so the results may not apply to everyone with chronic pain.
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Joo J, Dubois C, Devkota J, McConico N, Mun C, Dunn K, et al.. (2026). The role of hope and its association with quality of life in individuals with chronic pain - insights from a daily diary study.. Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-026-04413-7