BMC Health Services Research (Dec 2018)

Twelve-month effect of chronic pain self-management intervention delivered in an easily accessible primary healthcare service - a randomised controlled trial

  • Torunn Hatlen Nøst,
  • Aslak Steinsbekk,
  • Ola Bratås,
  • Kjersti Grønning

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3843-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18, no. 1
pp. 1 – 15

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Background To investigate the effects after twelve months related to patient activation and a range of secondary outcomes on persons with chronic pain of a chronic pain self-management course compared to a low-impact outdoor physical activity, delivered in an easily accessible healthcare service in public primary care. Methods An open, pragmatic, parallel group randomised controlled trial was conducted. The intervention group was offered a group-based chronic pain self-management course with 2.5-h weekly sessions for a period of six weeks comprising education that included cognitive and behavioural strategies for pain management, movement exercises, group discussions and sharing of experiences among participants. The control group was offered a drop-in, low-impact, outdoor physical activity in groups in one-hour weekly sessions that included walking and simple strength exercises for a period of six weeks. The primary outcome was patient activation assessed using the Patient Activation Measure (PAM-13). Secondary outcomes included assessments of pain, anxiety and depression, pain self-efficacy, sense of coherence, health-related quality of life, well-being and the 30-s Chair to Stand Test. Analyses were performed using a linear mixed model. Results After twelve months, there were no statistically significant differences between the intervention group (n = 60) and the control group (n = 61) for the primary or the secondary outcomes. The estimated mean difference between the groups for the primary outcome PAM was 4.0 (CI 95% -0.6 to 8.6, p = 0.085). Within both of the groups, there were statistically significant improvements in pain experienced during the previous week, the global self-rated health measure and the 30-s Chair to Stand Test. Conclusions No long-term effect of the chronic pain self-management course was found in comparison with a low-impact physical activity intervention for the primary outcome patient activation or for any secondary outcome. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02531282. Registered on August 212,015

Keywords