Learning to Combat Chronic Pain: Exploring the Effectiveness of a Six-week Patient Psychoeducation Course Teaching Self-management of Chronic Pain

摘要

Abstract Chronic pain is a highly prevalent health problem in the U.S. and poses a large economic and temporal cost to the medical system (Institute of Medicine, 2011; Marcus, 2003). Patients with chronic pain typically report a decrease in emotional, social, and economic functioning (Bair et. al, 2009; Breen, 2002; Kang, Backstrand, u26 Parker, 2013). This study investigated the efficacy of a 6-week evidence-based group psychoeducation course for the self-management of chronic pain. Pre- and post-test measures were utilized to assess results of the course. Data were analyzed using a paired sample t-test in order to explore the relationship and degree of effect preand post-intervention, as well as comparing the treatment and control group results. Due to the small sample size, many of the results were not statistically significant. However, there was significant improvement in reported wellbeing within the treatment group. Moreover, there were observable changes in the control group- specifically an increased sense of pain disability and decreased sense of wellbeing- but these results were not statistically significant. Through the implementation of this study, several limitations and barriers to intervention were discovered. These discoveries provide valuable information for future applications of chronic pain management groups. If developers of these groups consider the insights gained in this study, the programs would prove to be a highly valuable resource to the medical and psychological community, in turn reducing the burden on primary care providers and improving patient wellbeing.