Behavioral Medicine Treatment for Adolescents in Pain

Summary

Recurrent pain, such as headache, stomach pain and musculoskeletal pain is common in children and adolescents. Children and adolescents are reported to have restrictions in daily life activities, social contacts, and school attendance, and to have poorer academic skills and as well as an increased utilization of heath care services due to pain problems. The treatment approaches available today for teenagers with pain are often biological/physiological and little evidence for their effectiveness has been shown. It is urgent to try new interventions for pain problems in early ages in order to prevent disability, development of maladaptive coping strategies and to avoid negative impact on daily activities.

The optimal treatment regime for paediatric pain patients has been suggested to be cognitive behavioural approach integrated with physical therapy The aim of this project is to develop and evaluate in a randomized controlled trial a treatment program with a behavioural medicine approach (suitable to use in primary care or school based health care context) compared with standard treatment for adolescents with persistent pain problems. The aim is also to compare short and long-term costs for patients and for the health care system related to the two interventions, in order to determine strategies for future cost-effective care of children and adolescents experiencing recurrent pain.

Conditions

• Pain

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioural medicine treatment

The behavioural medicine treatment program will include muscle strengthening, stretching, posture training, training of relaxation techniques and information about pain according to the best empirical praxis and age appropriate interventions aimed to address the emotional and behavioural processes of pain.

OTHER

Standard treatment

Standard treatment includes muscle strengthening, stretching, posture training, training of relaxation techniques and information about pain according to the best empirical praxis

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Swedish Research Council

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Uppsala County Council, Sweden

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Uppsala University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Anne Söderlund, Professor · Uppsala University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-01-31

Primary Completion

2013-12-31

Completion

2013-12-31

Countries

• Sweden

Study Locations