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Abstract
Purpose: To determine whether observed health-related quality-of-life improvements after four-week traditional multidisciplinary pain management program and additional neuroscience education and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for chronic pain are sustained at six-month follow-up.
Method: This observational longitudinal follow-up study, with complete follow-up of 75 women, 61.5% of initial traditional approach group (treated 2001–2005) and 56 (62.2%) receiving the new approach (treated 2006–2009). Pain intensity and quality of life were measured at baseline and six months after interventions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and paired samples t-tests were used for statistical analysis.
Results: Both groups showed sustained improvements in pain intensity (traditional approach = −10.6 [p < 0.001]; new approach = −14.5 [p < 0.001]) and quality of life (traditional approach = 6.4 [p < 0.001]; new approach = 6.9 [p < 0.001]). Sleep was not sustained among traditional approach group (change = 2.4 [p = 0.066]), whereas all other domains among both groups were sustained. Significant decline was observed from discharge to six month among both groups with the exception of the sleep domain among the traditional approach group, pain intensity among the new approach and financial status among both groups. No baseline differences were revealed between responders and nonresponders.
Conclusions: Multidisciplinary interventions for women with chronic pain conditions improved quality of life and pain intensity with lasting improvements observed half a year after treatment completion.
Intensive multidisciplinary biopsychosocial rehabilitation is essential for chronic pain conditions.
This follow-up study shows sustained improvement in health-related quality of life and pain intensity six months after such rehabilitation was completed.
Emphasizing mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and neuroscience patient education may contribute to less decline in pain intensity from discharge to six-month follow-up compared with a more traditional approach.
Implications for rehabilitation
Acknowledgements
We thank the Heilsustofnun rehabilitation clinic for participation in the study and access to data. Special thanks to all team members in the pain department from 2001 to 2009 as well as patients enrolled in the two programs.
Disclosure statement
The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article. This study was granted by the Association of Icelandic Physical Therapists and from the Lifelong Learning Centre in Southern Iceland. The funding sources had no role in data acquisition, analysis or manuscript preparation.