Individually tailored cognitive therapy for musculoskeletal pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Implementing low-cost individually tailored cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain in Salford
IRAS ID
204601
Contact name
Karina Lovell
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Chronic widespread pain (CWP), defined as pain persisting for more than 3 months and affects between 11-13% of the population. It is associated with lost work productivity, mental ill health, reduced quality of life and high healthcare costs. Research conducted between the Universities of Aberdeen and Manchester has already demonstrated that a short course of telephone-administered cognitive behavioural therapy CBT (8 sessions with a total therapist time of 4.5 hours over) resulted in short-term improvement which was sustained in the longer-term (24 months) in patients experiencing CWP and that the intervention is also highly cost effective. Telephone CBT is convenient and offers the potential of making the therapy available to a much wider range of patients.
The aim of this 12-month study is to evaluate the implementation of this treatment into routine practice by Six Degrees Social Enterprise, a Community Interest Company based in Salford that provides support for people who are experiencing mental health problems. Currently, there are long waits for CBT in Salford for patients experiencing chronic widespread pain. The study will examine the processes involved in the implementation of the service and identify any individual or organisational barriers and facilitators to uptake for people with CWP.
We will explore how the service is implemented and embedded into routine practice by examining referral pathways, numbers of patients referred, treatment uptake/compliance and patient demographics. We will look the impact of the service using routinely collected health outcome data measuring depression, anxiety, functioning, satisfaction and pain. In addition we will collect data on change compared to study onset and quality of life which is not currently captured by routine measures. Interviews with professionals involved in the implementation and/or delivery of the treatment will also be conducted to explore their views, expectations and experiences of the service.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
16/WS/0118
Date of REC Opinion
2 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion