Authors' objectives: The purpose of the Health Technology Assessment of the Pain School is to produce a documented basis for decision regarding the form of treatment at the Multidisciplinary Pain Centre and its dissemination to corresponding treatment units and the primary sector. The focus is on the effect of the Pain School to patients' health-related quality of life, patients' evaluation of the significance of the Pain School, patients' utilisation of the health care services during 8 months after their participation in the Pain School, costs of intervention and economic costs of the treatment, and final organisational conditions and consequences of carrying through the treatment and its dissemination.

Authors' recommendations: The total results point in several directions. It is very uncertain if the treatment form Pain School has an independent effect of patients' health-related quality of life measured by SF-36 and on their utilisation of the health care system. On the other hand, the group treatment maintains the effect of the individual treatment for at least six months. The patients express that the Pain School contributes to a larger extent of understanding and acknowledgement of their chronic pain; an understanding which is important to their handling of the pain in their everyday. And the personnel give the Pain School credit in relation to the optimisation of their competences and knowledge of the patient group and their treatment. The above urges the project group to recommend the administrative and the clinical personnel to thoroughly discuss the existence of the Pain School in its present form at the Multidisciplinary Pain Centre. At the same time, we believe that the Multidisciplinary Pain Centre should carefully consider a specific physical training programme for the Pain School if maintained. It is the aim of this to have an effect on patients' health-related quality of life by the group intervention beyond the effect of the individual treatment itself. We will also recommend that new and existing multidisciplinary treatment units without standardised psycho-education do not introduce such a group treatment before the effect of this is better documented. We will not recommend the Pain School to be spread to the primary sector, as we have not demonstrated an isolated effect of the Pain School. A dissemination is also made difficult by the technology's dependence of the organisation and its context. Therefore, intentions to introduce comparable psycho-educative group treatments in primary sector and social sector should not be introduced unless intervention studies with a clearly defined objective are made.

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2006

URL for published report: http://www.sst.dk/publ/Publ2006/CEMTV/Smerteskole/Smerteskole.pdf

URL for additional information: http://www.sst.dk/publ/Publ2006/CEMTV/Smerteskole/Smerteskole_UKsum.pdf

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Denmark

Organisation Name: Danish Centre for Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment

Contact Address: National Board of Health, PO Box 1881, Islands Brygge 67, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark. Tel: 45 72 22 74 48; Fax: 45 72 22 74 07/67

Contact Name: dacehta@sst.dk

Contact Email: dacehta@sst.dk

Copyright: Danish Centre for Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment (DACEHTA)