Comparison of the effect of psychosocial skills training on acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain intensity: The effectiveness of early intervention in the reduction of acute musculoskeletal pain.

BACKGROUND

Pain, as a psychological experience, is caused by complex interactions among sensory-discriminative, motivational-affective, and cognitive-evaluative dimensions. The psychosocial approach is one of the important approaches in managing musculoskeletal pain in patients. Therefore, this study aimed to determine and compare the effects of psychosocial skills training on pain intensity in patients with acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain.

METHODS

In this quasi-experimental study, 64 patients with acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain were selected using convenience sampling. Both groups received psychosocial training in pain management in groups of 8-10 people over six 1-h sessions. The data were collected at baseline, after the intervention, and 3 months later using a numerical rating scale (NRS). Then, the data were entered into the SPSS 22 software and were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

RESULTS

In this study, the mean age of the participants was 50.10 ± 10.63 years and 60.9% of them were female. Based on the results, time had a significant effect on pain intensity (p < 0.001), but the effect of group on pain intensity was not statistically significant (p = 0.07). The group × time effect on pain intensity was also statistically significant (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Psychosocial training had a positive impact on the reduction of pain among the patients with acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain. Additionally, the training was more effective in patients with acute pain due to early training. These findings can help healthcare providers in the field of musculoskeletal pain management, especially in patients with acute pain.