The relative effectiveness of psychotherapeutic techniques and delivery modalities for chronic pain: a protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Abstract

Introduction: There is increasing evidence for the use of psychotherapies, including cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and mindfulness based stress reduction therapy, as an approach to management of chronic pain. Similarly, online psychotherapeutic interventions have been shown to be efficacious, and to arguably overcome practical barriers associated with traditional face-to-face treatment for chronic pain. This is a protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis aiming to evaluate and rank psychotherapies (delivered in person and online) for chronic pain patients. Methods/ design: Four databases, namely the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO will be searched from inception. Randomised controlled trials that have evaluated psychological interventions for pain management delivered online or in person will be included in the review. Data will be independently extracted in duplicate and the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool will be used to assess study quality. Measures of pain interference will be extracted as the primary outcome and measures of psychological distress will be extracted as the secondary outcome. A network meta-analysis will generate indirect comparisons of psychotherapies across treatment trials. Rankings of psychotherapies for chronic pain will be made available. Discussion: A variety of psychotherapies, delivered both online and in person, have been used in an attempt to help manage chronic pain. Although occasional head to head trials have been conducted, little evidence exists to help identify which psychotherapy is most effective in reducing pain interference. The current review will address this gap in the literature and compare the psychotherapies used for internet delivered and in person interventions for chronic pain in relation to the reduction of pain interference and psychological distress. Results will provide a guide for clinicians when determining treatment course and will inform future research into psychotherapies for chronic pain. PROSPERO registration: CRD42016048518 01/11/16

Comparative Efficacy and Acceptability of Psychotherapies for Self-harm and Suicidal Behavior Among Children and Adolescents

“…Given the abundance of single-treatment RCTs and the shortage of head-to-head RCTs, the use of NMAs can provide a novel approach to synthesizing knowledge with the data available. 106 , 107 …”

“…To our knowledge, this review is the first to apply NMA to evaluate psychotherapies for the treatment of self-harm and suicidality among children and adolescents. Given the abundance of single-treatment RCTs and the shortage of head-to-head RCTs, the use of NMAs can provide a novel approach to synthesizing knowledge with the data available …”

“…Given the abundance of single-treatment RCTs and the shortage of head-to-head RCTs, the use of NMAs can provide a novel approach to synthesizing knowledge with the data available. 106,107 This study also has several limitations. Although NMA is a powerful tool for comparative effectiveness research, it can produce misleading results when misapplied or misinterpreted.…”