Treatment Outcome of a Multidisciplinary Center for Management of Chronic Pain

Sixty-five studies that evaluated the efficacy of multidisciplinary treatments for chronic back pain were included in a meta-analysis. Within- and between-group effect sizes revealed that multidisciplinary treatments for chronic pain are superior to no treatment, waiting list, as well as single-discipline treatments such as medical treatment or physical therapy. Moreover, the effects appeared to be stable over time. The beneficial effects of multidisciplinary treatment were not limited to improvements in pain, mood and interference but also extended to behavioral variables such as return to work or use of the health care system. These results tend to support the efficacy of multidisciplinary pain treatment; however, these results must be interpreted cautiously as the quality of the study designs and study descriptions is marginal. Suggestions for improvement in research designs as well as appropriate reports of research completed are provided.

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Neglected topics in chronic pain treatment outcome studies: determination of success

Turk

Rudy

Sorkin

1993

Pain

216

110

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Although literature on chronic pain treatment outcome has made substantial strides in improving the quality of the studies reported, there remain a number of factors that lead to qualification of the generally positive results. In the two previous papers in this series a set of migrating factors was discussed, namely, representativeness of the samples treated in these outcome studies, relapse, and non-compliance with therapeutic recommendations. Additional limitations include the lack of agreement on the criteria on which to base evaluation of the success of treatment outcome and the percentage of treated patients included in follow-up data. In this paper, the most common methods for determining success are described (group effects based on standard and quasi-standard outcome measures). The limitations of this approach are discussed and alternative strategies are presented that focus not only on traditional criteria based on group means but on additional criteria including: (a) importance of change (i.e., clinical vs. statistical significance), (b) proportion of patients who improve, (c) cost, (d) efficiency in treatment delivery, (e) and consumer acceptance and satisfaction.

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Treatment Outcome of a Multidisciplinary Center for Management of Chronic Pain

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Multimodal treatment programmes for chronic pain: A quantitative analysis of existing research data

Multimodal treatment programmes for chronic pain: A quantitative analysis of existing research data

Efficacy of multidisciplinary pain treatment centers: a meta-analytic review

Neglected topics in chronic pain treatment outcome studies: determination of success

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