Smartphone applications (or apps) are becoming increasingly popular. The lack of regulation or guidance for health-related apps means that the validity and reliability of their content is unknown. We have conducted a review of available apps relating to the generic condition of pain. The official application stores for five major smartphone platforms were searched: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Nokia/Symbian and Windows Mobile. Apps were included if they reported a focus on pain education, management or relief, and were not solely aimed at health-care professionals (HCPs). A total of 111 apps met the inclusion criteria. The majority of apps reviewed claimed some information provision or electronic manual component. Diary tracking of pain variables was also a common feature. There was a low level of stated HCP involvement in app development and content. Despite an increasing number of apps being released, the frequency of HCP involvement is not increasing. Pain apps appear to be able to promise pain relief without any concern for the effectiveness of the product, or for possible adverse effects of product use. In a population often desperate for a solution to distressing and debilitating pain conditions, there is considerable risk of individuals being misled.

Background Chronic pain (i.e. pain lasting longer than three months) is common. Psychological therapies (e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy) can help people to cope with pain, depression and disability that can occur with such pain. Treatments currently are delivered via hospital outpatient consultation (face-to-face) or more recently through the Internet. This review looks at the evidence for psychological therapies delivered via the Internet for adults with chronic pain. Objectives Our objective was to evaluate whether Internet-delivered psychological therapies improve pain symptoms, reduce disability, and improve depression and anxiety for adults with chronic pain. Secondary outcomes included satisfaction with treatment/treatment acceptability and quality of life. Search methods We searched CENTRAL (Cochrane Library), MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO from inception to November 2013 for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) investigating psychological therapies delivered via the Internet to adults with a chronic pain condition. Potential RCTs were also identified from reference lists of included studies and relevant review articles. In addition, RCTs were also searched for in trial registries. Selection criteria Peer-reviewed RCTs were identified and read in full for inclusion. We included studies if they used the Internet to deliver the primary therapy, contained sufficient psychotherapeutic content, and promoted self-management of chronic pain. Studies were excluded if the number of participants in any arm of the trial was less than 20 at the point of extraction. Data collection and analysis Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria and data were extracted. Risk of bias assessments were conducted for all included studies. We categorised studies by condition (headache or non-headache conditions). Four primary outcomes; pain symptoms, disability, depression, and anxiety, and two secondary outcomes; satisfaction/acceptability and quality of life were extracted for each study immediately posttreatment and at follow-up (defined as 3 to 12 months post-treatment). 1 Psychological therapies (Internet-delivered) for the management of chronic pain in adults (Review)

Psychological therapies (Internet-delivered) for the management of chronic pain in adults (Review)

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Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is proposed to be a transdiagnostic causal mechanism of psychological difficulties. The systematic review sought to evaluate the status of evidence pertaining to IU's proposed causal influence upon symptoms of psychological conditions. The review collated evidence from studies involving experimental manipulation and assessment of temporal precedence to ensure direct assessment of causality. The search strategy and eligibility screening identified 12 articles, detailing 15 eligible studies (experimental manipulations: n = 10; temporal precedence studies: n = 5). Available evidence comprised symptoms of anxiety-and mood-related conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The greatest support for IU as a causal mechanism was evident for anxiety-related difficulties and, to a lesser extent, negative affect; limited support was found for OCD-related difficulties. However, notable inconsistency across study findings for all difficulty types precludes absolute conclusions. Implications and recommendations are discussed.