title: Comparison of biofeedback and relaxation in the treatment of pediatric headache and the influence of parent involvement on outcome.
abstract: The relative efficacy of EMG-frontalis feedback and progressive relaxation was examined in children with tension-type or combined headaches (8-14 yrs. old). Furthermore, the influence of parent involvement, in the form of a three-session educational approach, on training outcome was systematically explored (2 x 2 factor design). Fifty children took part in the study, 40 were randomly assigned to the four different treatment conditions, 10 children participated in the self-monitoring control group. The training comprised 6 sessions of 1 hr each in the relaxation treatment and 12 sessions of 1/2 hr duration in the biofeedback group. Headache diaries were kept by children and parents for 4-week period prior to therapy, and for a similar length of time at post-treatment and follow-up (6 months). Multivariate analyses of variance on the headache diary data yield no significant main or interaction effects of treatment format or of parent involvement, but only a main effect of period, indicating a general efficacy of the four treatment conditions. At follow-up the reduction of headache activity is even more prominent. A different evaluative approach points to the superiority of biofeedback revealing a mean effect size for biofeedback training that reflects a good to excellent improvement rate. Correlations between headache data from children and parents are high.
authors.affiliation: University of Goettingen, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kröner-Herwig
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mohn
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pothmann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology; D002648:Child; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016487:Parenting; D012064:Relaxation Therapy; D018781:Tension-Type Headache / Q000145:classification / Q000628:therapy*