Long-Term Follow-Up of a Structured Group Treatment for the Management of Chronic Pain

Abstract

This article presents the long-term (18-22 month) follow-up outcomes of a previously published controlled study of cognitive-behavioral social group work treatment of patients experiencing chronic pain .Reviews of research studies indicate that cognitive-behavioral strategies for the management of chronic pain are frequently successful in improving clients' subjective perceptions of pain and functioning (Benjamin, 1989;Linton, 1982;Linton, 1986;Turner & Chapman, 1982). Because of the high cost of inpatient hospitalization, more outpatient programs that teach cognitive-behavioral interventions are being implemented (Cicala & Wright, 1989). However, most of the research published about these programs is limited by the lack of long-term follow-up data, the use of retrospective data for follow-up, and the use of follow-up measures that are not comparable to those used at pretreatment (Linssen & Spinhoven, 1992).A review of the research literature between 1982 and 1986 found mostly positive follow-up results for cognitive-behavioral treatment of chronic pain conditions. However, the review noted that only nine studies included follow-up, and only four of those defined follow-up as longer than 9 months (Linton, 1986). Two more recent studies have found positive 12-month follow-up results for the use of an operant-behavioral group treatment and a cognitive-behavioral group treatment, both for chronic lower back pain

Cognitive-Behavioral Pain Management for Elderly Nursing Home Residents

“…In the absence of appropriate normative data for evaluating changes in outcome measures from a chronic pain treatment program, an important consideration is the percentage of treated patients who achieve clinically significant changes (Subramanian, 1994). At post-treatment, 80% of the CB subjects improved on the pain rating index (PRI) from the SF-MPQ, 10% remained the same, and 10% worsened.…”