Pain neuroscience education improves quality of life when added to aquatic exercise therapy for women with fibromyalgia: randomized controlled clinical trial.

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of adding Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE) to an aquatic therapy protocol on pain, fibromyalgia (FMS) impact, quality of life and sleep. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-five women were randomly allocated into two groups: aquatic exercises (AEG, n = 36) and aquatic exercises + PNE (PNG, n = 39). The primary outcome was pain, and the secondary outcomes were FMS impact, quality of life, sleep and pain sensitivity (pressure pain thresholds - PPTs). Participants performed 45-min sessions of aquatic exercises, twice a week, for 12 weeks. PNG also received 4 PNE sessions during this period. Participants were assessed four times: initial (before treatment), after 6 weeks (intermediate) and 12 weeks (final) of treatment and after 12 weeks after the end of treatment (follow-up). RESULTS: Both groups improved pain after treatment, with no difference between them (p > 0.05, partial ƞ2 0.10). FMS impact and PPTs improved after treatment with no difference between groups, and sleep did not change. Quality of life improved several domains for both groups, with slightly better results for the PNG, with low effect sizes between groups. CONCLUSIONS: The present results show that the addition of PNE to an aquatic exercise intervention did not provide larger effects than aquatic exercises alone for people with FMS concerning pain intensity, but provided benefit for health-related quality of life for this population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03073642, version 2, April 1st, 2019). PERSPECTIVE: The addition of 4 Pain Neuroscience Education sessions to an aquatic exercises protocol did not add benefits for women with fibromyalgia syndrome on pain, fibromyalgia impact, and sleep, but improved quality of life and pain sensitivity.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONAquatic exercises are commonly prescribed, but patient education is crucial for the treatment.The addition of Pain Neuroscience Education to an aquatic exercises protocol did not add benefits for women with fibromyalgia syndrome.The positive changes on quality of life and pain sensitivity that this combination led to had small effect sizes and did not achieve minimal important clinical difference.

Measurement properties of the Brazilian online version of the Fibromyalgia Rapid Screening Tool (FiRST)

Abstract Objective The Fibromyalgia Rapid Screening Tool (FiRST) was developed to screen people with chronic pain for Fibromyalgia (FM), especially in primary health care settings. This study aimed to translate the FiRST into Brazilian Portuguese and evaluate its measurement properties for an online application. Methods After the process of translation and backtranslation, the FiRST was applied online in 483 adults with chronic pain (FM group n = 395; Chronic pain group n = 88), along with the Numerical Rating Scale for pain and fatigue, the Brief Pain Inventory, and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire-Revised. A Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve was computed and the area under the curve (AUC) was used to determine the sensibility, specificity, and cutoff score for the FiRST. The Mann-Whitney test was used for quantitative variables and the Chi-square and the Fisher's exact test, for the categorical variables with level of significance of 5%. Fleiss' Kappa, Gwet's AC1 and percentage of agreement were also calculated between test and retest. Results For all the questionnaires, the FM group presented higher scores, which mean a worst condition. The FiRST presented a sensitivity of 92.3%, and a specificity of 61.6% with 5 as the cut-off score. AUC, Fleiss' Kappa, Gwet's AC1 and percentage of agreement were, respectively, 0.82, 0.38, 0.63 and 71.8%. Conclusion The FiRST was translated into Brazilian Portuguese and the online version presented a good content validity and adequate measurement errors that allow FM patients to be screened among people with chronic pain.

Estudo sobre a avaliação aplicada no internato em clínica médica da Unisul / Study into medical intern assessment at Unisul

INTRODUÇÃO: O internato médico compreende o período do curso de graduação em Medicina em que o educando recebe preparação para a prática médica. A avaliação contribui para a aquisição da competência clínica e, consequentemente, prepara o educando para a prática médica. OBJETIVOS: Estudar os métodos de avaliação discente no internato em Clínica Médica do curso de graduação em Medicina da Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (Unisul), campus Tubarão, por meio da análise da percepção de discentes e docentes envolvidos neste estágio do curso. MÉTODOS: Participaram da pesquisa 44 internos e 15 docentes do semestre letivo 2009/2. RESULTADOS: Os sujeitos da pesquisa percebem a existência e a necessidade de avaliação no internato, têm conhecimento das estratégias e itens utilizados no processo avaliativo e entendem que nesse processo são empregados métodos com medidas objetivas e subjetivas, com abordagens qualitativas e quantitativas. CONCLUSÕES: Sugere-se maior ênfase em conteúdo prático e capacitação docente, aliadas a uma lista de verificação ao final do estágio.

INTRODUCTION: Medical internship consists ofthe period of aundergraduate medicine course in which the student is prepared for medical practice. The assessment contributes toward clinical competency and, consequently, prepares the student for medical practice. OBJECTIVES: To study the assessment methods of medical interns from the undergraduate medicine course ofthe Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (UNISUL), through analysis of the perceptions of medical students and teachers involved. METHODS:The study involved 44 medical students and 15 teachers from the second school semester of 2009. Results: The research subjects perceive the existence and need for evaluation in the medical clinical internship period, possess knowledge of the strategies and items used in the assessment process and understand that this process uses methods with objective and subjective measures, qualitative and quantitative approaches. CONCLUSIONS: Greater emphasis on practical content and teacher training is suggested, as well asa final internship check-list.