Psychotherapy with the chronic pain patient using coping skills development: Outcome study.

Abstract

This study provided outcome data measuring variables of a psychoeducational group approach to self-management of 88 chronic pain patients and 25 controls. Most of the injuries were back injuries and work related. At the completion of the 16 group sessions, patients reported decreased depression, pain severity, interference, and affective distress and increased life control and general activity. At 1-year follow-up, there was continued increased return to work, lowered workers' compensation, fewer health care visits, and less prescribed pain medication than demographically similar controls. Results suggest that a group psychoeducational program involving learning of general coping skills primarily and pain coping skills secondarily produces an effective approach for the management of chronic pain.

Long‐term influences of a biopsychosocial rehabilitation programme for chronic pain patients

“…The significant 25% decrease in the number of doctor visits/year shown in the results indicates that the influences of the biopsychosocial rehabilitation programme conducted in primary health care are similar in this respect to those obtained at pain clinics (Caudill et al, 1991;Cole, 1998;Maruta et al, 1998). There was also a significant decrease in the number of sick-leave days, but as this could be a consequence of the increased proportion of patients receiving disability pensions; it is not acceptable to interpret this as a gain, neither can the change from sick-leave to full-time work since full-time workers changed to sick-leave or disability pension.…”

“…Of those patients who were under 65 years of age, nearly one third were working full-time and 11% worked at home without restrictions (Maruta et al, 1998). Cole (1998) followed 88 chronic pain patients who participated in a biopsychosocial rehabilitation programme at a private psychological practice. One year after the programme, 82% of participants had decreased their health care from five to one visit per month.…”

“…Rehabilitation programmes with a biopsychosocial approach for patients with chronic pain have traditionally been carried out at pain clinics by multidisciplinary teams, and a large number of follow-up studies have been conducted to measure their effects (Caudill et al, 1991;Flor et al, 1992;Richardson et al, 1994;Cole, 1998;Maruta et al, 1998;Guzman et al, 2001;Thomsen et al, 2002;Tu rk, 2002). Outcomes have included a return to work (Flor et al, 1992;Maruta et al, 1998) and decreased consumption of care (Caudill et al, 1991;Flor et al, 1992).…”

The Politics of Self-Craft

“…When assessing the impact of these programs on service use-such as general practitioner (GP) consults or emergency room visits-evidence has also pointed to the efficacy of these programs. For example, for general chronic pain conditions as well as specific diseases such as arthritis, health professional consults were reduced by up to 80% (Barlow, Williams, & Wright, 1999;Cole, 1998). In addition, studies charting the effects of self-management programs on service use by asthma patients reveal a reduction in GP consults by up to 44% (Charlton, Charlton, Broomfield, & Mullee, 1990) and a reduction in emergency room visits by 39% (Choy et al, 1999).…”

Work self-efficacy of individuals injured on the job

“…Similarly, in the United States back pain in particular results in billions of dollars in medical costs, lost time and production from work and is the single greatest reason for health care access (Cole, 1998;Langelier & Gallagher, 1989). Approximately 10-15% of adult working individuals experience some level of disabling back pain yearly (Osterweis, Kleiman, & Mechanic, 1987).…”