The Clinical journal of pain
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Treatment expectancy affects the outcome of cognitive-behavioral interventions in chronic pain.
Patients' initial beliefs about the success of a given pain treatment are shown to have an important influence on the final treatment outcome. The aims of the paper are to assess determinants of patients' treatment expectancy and to examine the extent to which treatment expectancy predicts the short-term and long-term outcome of cognitive-behavioral treatment of chronic pain. This study employs the data of 2 pooled randomized clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral interventions for 171 patients with fibromyalgia and chronic low back pain. ⋯ A regression model of 3 factors (better pain coping and control, active and positive interpretation of pain, and less disability compensation) significantly explained 10% of the variance in pretreatment expectancy. Pretreatment expectancy significantly predicted each of the 4 outcome measures immediately after treatment and at 12 months follow-up. This study corroborates the importance of treatment expectation before entering a cognitive-behavioral intervention in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Fear of movement/(re)injury in chronic low back pain: education or exposure in vivo as mediator to fear reduction?
Clinical research of graded exposure in vivo with behavioral experiments in patients with chronic low back pain who reported fear of movement/(re)injury shows abrupt changes in self-reported pain-related fears and cognitions. The abrupt changes are more characteristics of insight learning rather than the usual gradual progression of trial and error learning. The educational session at the start of the exposure might have contributed to this insight. ⋯ Performance of relevant daily activities, however, were not affected by the educational session and improved significantly only in the exposure in vivo condition. All improvements remained at half-year follow-up only in patients receiving the exposure in vivo. These patients also reported a significant decrease in pain intensity at follow-up.
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No previous study has adequately demonstrated the test-retest reliability of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire, yet it is increasingly being used as a measure of pain. This study evaluates the test-retest reliability in patients with osteoarthritis. ⋯ Problems of adequate completion of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire were highlighted in this sample, and supervision via telephone contact was required. Patients recruited in clinic who had practiced completing the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire demonstrated fewer errors than those recruited by mail. The Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire was demonstrated to be a highly reliable measure of pain. These results should not be generalized to a more elderly population, as increasing age was correlated with greater variability of the sensory component scores.
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In attempts to decrease chronic pain and the negative impact of chronic pain on broader functioning, patients can be stimulated to adopt self-management skills. However, not all patients are motivated to do so. Insight into the causes of motivation and the process of behavior change could increase the practitioners' effectiveness in stimulating patients to use self-management skills. ⋯ The present article reviews the 8 available publications in which the stages of change construct is studied in patients with chronic pain. The results show that the theory of the stages of change needs more articulation, that the operationalization should be more directly derived from the theory, and that the results from more appropriate tests of the theory should be used to change the theory when necessary to develop it. Recommendations are made with regard to the theory, the operationalizations, and the tests to be conducted to develop the theory and assess its validity.
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Clinical Trial
Screening to identify patients at risk: profiles of psychological risk factors for early intervention.
There is a serious need to provide effective early interventions that prevent the development of persistent pain and disability. Identifying patients at risk for this development is an important step. Our aim was to explore whether distinct subgroups of individuals with similar response patterns on a screening questionnaire exist. ⋯ Although the low risk profiles had virtually no one developing long-term sick leave, the Fear-Avoidant profile had 35% and the Distressed Fear-Avoidant profile 62% developing long-term sick leave. Our results suggest that fear-avoidance and distress are important factors in the development of pain-related disability and may serve as a key for early identification. Providing interventions specific to the factors isolated in the profiles should enhance the prevention of persistent pain and disability.