An Assessment of the Efficacy of an Online Pain Management Programme During the Covid‐19 Pandemic

P. Thompson, Dave; Ramshead, Matthew; Antcliff, Deborah

Abstract

Background
Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated social distancing requirements, Pain Services were no longer able to deliver face-to-face Pain Management Programmes (PMP). As an alternative, the Bury Integrated Pain Service developed an interactive, online programme, delivered via Microsoft Teams videoconferencing technology. However, the efficacy of such programmes is unclear. The aim of this project was to assess whether comparable results were observed with online PMPs as with face-to-face PMPs.

Methods
A non-inferiority study comparing patients attending an online PMP to a historical cohort of patients attending face-to-face PMPs. Analyses of variance were performed to assess between group differences and chi squared tests to compare the proportion of patients making clinically meaningful changes in pain, musculoskeletal health, anxiety, depression and self-efficacy.

Results
24% of patients (n = 9) deemed suitable for the online PMP were unable to participate due to technological difficulties. This resulted in 28 people attending the online PMP. Greater mean reductions in anxiety (GAD-7 mean difference = 1.9; p < 0.05) and depression (PHQ-9 mean difference 3.3; p < 0.05) were observed with face-to-face PMP and a greater proportion of patients made clinically meaningful improvements in musculoskeletal health (face-to-face = 13; online = 5), anxiety (face-to-face = 7; online = 1), and depression (face-to-face = 11; online = 2).

Conclusions
Some patients appear to obtain significant benefit from online PMPs, but this appeared to be to a lesser extent than face-to-face PMPs. It is possible that factors related to the experience of the pandemic influenced these results. However, online PMPs appear to show some promise and further research is warranted to explore the value of online PMPs.

Citation

P. Thompson, D., Ramshead, M., & Antcliff, D. (2024). An Assessment of the Efficacy of an Online Pain Management Programme During the Covid‐19 Pandemic. Musculoskeletal Care, 22(3), Article e1929. https://doi.org/10.1002/msc.1929

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 31, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Aug 28, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-09
• Deposit Date: Sep 2, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 2, 2024
• Journal: Musculoskeletal Care
• Print ISSN: 1478-2189
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 3
• Article Number: e1929
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/msc.1929
• Keywords: pain management, remote care, online, telehealth, pain, telemedicine, virtual
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/889885
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/msc.1929