VirtualPain. Preliminary findings from a group-based digital therapeutics intervention for fibromyalgia.

INTRODUCTION

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disorder characterized by chronic pain, with significant medical, psychological, and socio-economic implications. Although there is limited evidence, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown to be effective in improving FM symptoms. An alternative to enhance CBT effectiveness is to incorporate digital therapeutics (DTx).

AIM: We conducted a pilot study to investigate whether the addition of a DTx intervention (VirtualPain) to cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) can reduce pain perception and associated symptoms in patients with FM.

METHOD: Ten patients with FM were initially recruited from a public hospital in Barcelona. The treatment consisted of 6 weeks of VirtualPain group sessions and 16 weeks of CBGT. Measures of catastrophizing, self-efficacy, and coping were recorded before, during, and after the protocol. In the DTx sessions, pain intensity was recorded before and after each session.

RESULTS

The program (DTx and CBGT) showed a significant improvement in pain-related self-efficacy and relaxation measures. Improvement in pain perception was observed only after the DTx intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides preliminary results regarding the added value of DTx (VirtualPain) as part of a CBGT for FM. The use of the program has facilitated a significant reduction in pain perception in each of the VirtualPain sessions, which provides further evidence of how this technology can be beneficial for improving FM treatments.