Young Adult Pain Rehabilitation: Interdisciplinary Development and Preliminary Outcomes of a Novel Treatment Program.

BACKGROUND: Young adults with chronic pain and symptoms experience disruptions to their social, emotional, physical, and vocational functioning. Interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation programs for pediatric and adult populations are not designed specifically to address the developmental needs of young adults. METHODS: This article describes the development of a novel intensive interdisciplinary outpatient rehabilitation program tailored to the unique needs of young adults with chronic pain and symptoms. Tailored content included vocational assessment and consultation, financial literacy education, and sexual health education. RESULTS: Outcome data demonstrate treatment gains, with reductions in pain interference, pain severity, pain catastrophizing, and depressive symptoms, as well as improvements in mental and physical quality of life, perceived performance, perceived satisfaction with performance, and objective measures of physical functioning. CONCLUSIONS: The article concludes with clinical recommendations for the management of chronic pain and symptoms in young adults, applicable across multiple treatment settings.

The Goals and Outcomes of Adolescent and Young Adults with POTS Attending an Intensive Interdisciplinary Treatment Program.

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) affects approximately 1% of adolescents, however, little research has been done in this area. This retrospective chart review describes the treatment goals and perceived progress as measured by the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) of 111 adolescents and young adults (AYAs) aged 12-22 (M = 15.8, SD = 1.8) diagnosed with POTS who were admitted to an interdisciplinary intensive pain treatment program (IIPT). This study also examined the change in progress and satisfaction in goals over a 3-week intensive pain treatment program, as well as the utility and validity of the COPM as an outcome measure for AYAs attending an IIPT. Results indicated adolescents and young adults endorsed treatment goals focused on self-care, school, and leisure and found that performance and satisfaction scores significantly improved from admission to discharge. The findings also suggest that the COPM is a useful and valid outcome measure for this population.