title: The effects of a cognitive-behavioral pain management programme on the quality of work and employment status of severely impaired chronic pain patients.
abstract: This study examined changes in employment status and quality of work in 109 chronic pain patients who underwent a cognitive-behavioural pain management course; 68% of patients were female, mean age was 45 years, mean pain chronicity 10.7 years, 70% had spinal pain, and mean impairment on the Sickness Impact Profile was 26%. Twenty-six per cent of patients were employed at pre-treatment; the remaining 74% had been unemployed for 4.3 years on average. Measures of work status and quality, mood, pain, self-efficacy and walking performance were taken before admission, and at 1-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. Among employed patients quality of work scores improved by 35% from pre- to post-treatment (p < 0.01). Thirty per cent of previously unemployed patients returned to work during the 1-year follow-up, although employment status fluctuated greatly during this period. Non-workers were generally more impaired than workers on most measures, but the same measures did not differentiate between those who successfully returned to work and those who remained unemployed.
authors.affiliation: INPUT, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: I H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Featherstone
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Harding
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012064:Relaxation Therapy; D014937:Work