A pilot study of the individual placement and support model for patients with chronic pain.

BACKGROUND: Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an evidence-based work rehabilitation model with well-documented effects for people with mental illness. The model has, however, never been tested out for people with chronic pain. This pilot study aimed to investigate chronic pain patients' experiences with the IPS job support model. METHODS: We recruited eight consecutive patients referred for various chronic pain conditions at a hospital outpatient pain clinic. They were offered IPS job support as an integrated part of their interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation. The patients' experiences were investigated through semi-structured interviews 3 months after inclusion in the study. RESULTS: The participants reported mostly positive experiences with IPS. One participant dropped out of the study after deterioration of symptoms, while the remaining participants were satisfied with the intervention. Particular helpful aspects of the IPS intervention were the follow-up from the employment specialist, focus on competitive employment, focus on work despite pain complaints, reframing work into something positive, administrative support, and practice in writing applications. No participants reported adverse experiences from the IPS intervention. Within a 12-months time frame, 3 of the 8 participants gained competitive employment. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of the IPS model of supported employment applied in an outpatient setting for chronic pain patients. The results suggest that IPS can be successfully integrated with interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation, and warrants large-scale testing in a randomized controlled trial.

Brief intervention, physical exercise and cognitive behavioural group therapy for patients with chronic low back pain (The CINS trial).

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Cognitive-behavioural treatments (CBT) and physical group exercise (PE) have both shown promising effects in reducing disability and increasing work participation among chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. A brief cognitive intervention (BI) has previously been demonstrated to reduce work disability in CLBP. The aim of this study was to test if the effect of BI could be further increased by adding either group CBT or group PE. METHODS: A total of 214 patients, all sick listed 2-10 months due to CLBP, were randomized to BI (n = 99), BI + group CBT (n = 55) or BI + group PE (n = 60). Primary outcome was increased work participation at 12 months, whereas secondary outcomes included pain-related disability, subjective health complaints, anxiety, depression, coping and fear avoidance. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the groups in work participation at 12 months follow-up (χ2  = 1.15, p = 0.56). No significant differences were found on the secondary outcomes either, except for a statistically significant reduction (time by group) in pseudoneurology one domain of subjective health complaints (sleep problems, tiredness, dizziness, anxiety, depression, palpitation, heat flushes) (F2,136  = 3.109, p = 0.048) and anxiety (F2,143  = 4.899, p = 0.009) for the groups BI + group CBT and BI + group PE, compared to BI alone. However, these differences were not significant in post hoc analyses (Scheffé adjusted). CONCLUSION: There was no support for an effect of the added group CBT or group PE treatments to a brief cognitive intervention in this study of patients on sick leave due to low back pain. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study demonstrates that treatments that previously were found to be effective and are included in most treatment guidelines, such as group cognitive-behavior therapy and exercise, were not effective in this given context compared to a brief, cognitive intervention. This implies that an optimized brief intervention is difficult to outperform in patients on sick leave due to low back pain.

Impact of organizational policies and practices on workplace injuries in a hospital setting.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess relationships between perceptions of organizational practices and policies (OPP), social support, and injury rates among workers in hospital units. METHODS: A total of 1230 hospital workers provided survey data on OPP, job flexibility, and social support. Demographic data and unit injury rates were collected from the hospitals' administrative databases. RESULTS: Injury rates were lower in units where workers reported higher OPP scores and high social support. These relationships were mainly observed among registered nurses. Registered nurses perceived coworker support and OPP as less satisfactory than patient care associates (PCAs). Nevertheless, because of the low number of PCAs at each unit, results for the PCAs are preliminary and should be further researched in future studies with larger sample sizes. CONCLUSIONS: Employers aiming to reduce injuries in hospitals could focus on good OPP and supportive work environment.

When the wind goes out of the sail - declining recovery expectations in the first weeks of back pain.

BACKGROUND: Expectations for recovery are a known predictor for returning to work. Most studies seem to conclude that the higher the expectancy the better the outcome. However, the development of expectations over time is rarely researched and experimental studies show that realistic expectations rather than high expectancies are the most adaptive. This study aims to explore patterns of stability and change in expectations for recovery during the first weeks of a back-pain episode and how these patterns relate to other psychological variables and outcome. METHODS: The study included 496 volunteer patients seeking treatment for work-related, acute back pain. The participants were measured with self-report scales of depression, fear of pain, life impact of pain, catastrophizing and expectations for recovery at two time points. A follow-up focusing on recovery and return to work was conducted 3 months later. A cluster analysis was conducted, categorizing the data on the trajectories of recovery expectations. RESULTS: Cluster analysis revealed four clusters regarding the development of expectations for recovery during a 2-week period after pain onset. Three out of four clusters showed stability in their expectations as well as corresponding levels of proximal psychological factors. The fourth cluster showed increases in distress and a decrease in expectations for recovery. This cluster also has poor odds ratios for returning to work and recovery. CONCLUSION: Decreases in expectancies for recovery seem as important as baseline values in terms of outcome, which has clinical and theoretical implications.

Mediators of change in cognitive behaviour therapy and mebeverine for irritable bowel syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive behaviour therapies (CBTs) have through several trials been demonstrated to reduce symptoms and disability in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients, but the mechanisms responsible for the changes are still unknown. The aim of this study was to test a theoretical model of CBT and investigate if cognitions and/or behaviour mediated the changes seen in CBT for IBS. METHOD: To assess for possible mediating effects, we applied path analysis to the dataset of 149 diagnosed participants randomized to mebeverine hydrochloride plus CBT or mebeverine hydrochloride alone. Primary outcome was symptom severity, while secondary outcomes were work and social adjustment and anxiety. RESULTS: The path analyses supported mediational paths for all outcomes. Changes in behaviour and cognitions mediated all three outcomes, with models placing behaviour change 'upstream' of cognition change having best fit. The analyses of model fits revealed best fit for the anxiety model and hence provide increased confidence in the causal model of anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in behaviour and cognitions mediate the change in CBT given to IBS patients. The results strengthen the validity of a theoretical model of CBT by confirming the interaction of cognitive, emotional and behavioural factors in IBS.

Factors associated with acute fatigue in primary care.

BACKGROUND: To examine the role of psychological distress, negative life events, social support and lack of fitness (using breathlessness on exertion as a proxy) in the development of new onset fatigue in a primary care population. METHOD: Adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years who were registered with five general practices in South East England were asked to complete a fatigue questionnaire and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Between 1 and 12 months later, subjects who visited the general practitioner (GP) with a suspected viral infection were recruited to the study and asked to complete measures of fatigue, psychological distress, life events, social support and allergies (stage 2). The next person to present to the GP with a complaint other than a viral illness was recruited as a control. Factors assessed at stage 2 that were associated with the development of fatigue were examined with stepwise logistic regression. RESULTS: Acute fatigue was not associated with a viral illness. Negative life events and breathlessness on exertion (interpreted as lack of fitness) were associated with incident cases of fatigue. However, when controlling for concurrent psychological distress, the independent association of negative life events disappeared. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological distress was strongly associated with new onset fatigue and hence emphasizes the significance of psychological distress as a concomitant complaint in fatigue. Further, the salient association between breathlessness and fatigue may indicate the need to recommend exercise as a therapeutic strategy to improve physical fitness in the primary care setting.