Melanie Berube
McGill University, Canada
Title: Acceptability assessment of a self-management intervention to prevent acute to chronic pain transition post major lower extremity trauma
Biography
Biography: Melanie Berube
Abstract
Up to 86% of patients with serious extremity trauma (ET) develop chronic pain. People affected by chronic pain report a worse quality of life than individuals affected by common chronic disease. Moreover, chronic pain imposes a high socio-economic burden. Several psychological risk factors have been disclosed to be involved in the development of chronic pain including pain catastrophizing, pain-related fear as well as anxiety and depression symptoms. Some empirical evidence has revealed that interventions based on a cognitive-behavioral approach which aims to increase self-management behaviors could prevent chronic pain by addressing psychological risk factors. Consequently, we developed a self-management intervention tailored to patients with serious ET. Clinicians from various disciplines (n=10) and patients’ (n=6) assessed intervention acceptability according to the following criteria: effectiveness, appropriateness, suitability and convenience. Data was collected through the treatment acceptability and preference (TAP) questionnaire and a focus group. The TAP questionnaire mean scores indicated that clinicians and patients assessed positively to very positively (score≥2/4) the preliminary version of the intervention. Improvements such as breaking up sessions and integrating an e-health component to the intervention were discussed during the focus group with clinicians. Patients proposed modifications to intervention activities and identified the necessity to better tailor activities and dose to each individual during the intervention pre-test. This study provided information about the refinements that need to be made to the preventive intervention to improve its acceptability. The next step will be to assess the feasibility of the improved intervention in the context of a pilot RCT.