Patient Perspectives on an Interdisciplinary Pain Management Program 10 Years Later: A Thematic Analysis

Research Objectives: To investigate key patient perceptions of a four-week outpatient interdisciplinary pain management program (IPMP) at an average of 10 years after program completion.

Design: Mixed qualitative-quantitative study. Data was collected via multiple choice questions and live transcription during prospective telephone interviews. Retrospective chart review was then performed to obtain IPMP-related data.

Setting: Outpatient pain management center located in a large rehabilitation hospital.

Participants: Adults who completed IPMP between 2014-2017 or 2009-2012 were eligible. Forty-five individuals completed the interview. Mean age at start of IPMP was 49 years old and at telephone follow-up was 60 years old.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcomes were patient reports of positive and negative perceptions of IPMP, coded iteratively using a thematic analysis approach. Secondary outcomes were numeric pain rating scale (NRS) and Pain Disability Index (PDI).

Results: Two predominant themes emerged: benefits from multimodal approaches and positive program outcomes. Within the theme of multimodal approaches, the subthemes of biofeedback/relaxation, cognitive behavior therapy/pain psychology, and coping strategies were most frequent. Negative aspects were less frequently mentioned, with the most common themes being cost and lack of follow-up. Initial Cohen’s kappa was 0.66. which increased to 0.79 after refining subthemes and re-coding responses. Participants had significantly decreased NRS and PDI scores (both p’s < 0.0001) at follow-up.

Conclusions: These data suggest the efficacy of IPMP lies in their multimodal approaches, which may aid in maintaining program benefits at 10-year follow up. Program cost remains a barrier for more inclusive participation in IPMPs.

Author(s) Disclosures: All authors have no relevant disclosures.