[Multidisciplinary treatment program on chronic low back pain, part 3. Psychosocial aspects]

The majority of authors agree today that psychosocial factors have more influence on a successful treatment of chronic back pain than other variables, in particular medical findings. Therefore treatments aim to integrate psychotherapeutic intervention in order to lessen emotional impairment, to change behavioral patterns (which advocate rest and the avoidance of physical activity), and to change cognitive attitudes and fears concerning exercise and work ability. Nevertheless, the interplay of cognitive measures and disability in treatment programs still remains an unclear issue.

Ninety disabled patients with chronic low back pain were admitted to an 8-week outpatient program of functional restoration and behavioral support. The program consisted of a pre-program (education, stretching and calisthenic exercises) and an intensive treatment period (physical exercises, back school education, cognitive behavioral group therapy, relaxation training, occupational therapy, vocational counseling), which took place for 5 weeks, 7 h a day, as an outpatient program. The targets of the psychological interventions were (a) to change maladaptive behavior (inactivity, social withdrawal) and increase the patient's activity level at home, (b) to alter maladaptive cognitions (somatization, catastrophizing, passive expectations concerning treatment) and to improve their own positive coping skills, (c) to identify and stop operant conditioned behavior, and (d) to prevent depressive symptoms and strengthen the level of emotional control. The program's philosophy encouraged the patients' active efforts to improve their functional status within a therapeutic environment that reinforced positive behavior traits conductive to getting well. The main therapeutic target was to facilitate a return to work. Apart from a medical examination and a personal interview, the patients' physical impairment, pain descriptions, and psychological distress (according to different criteria for evaluation) were also measured. This included variables such as depression, psychovegetative complaints, quality of life and workplace satisfaction, disability, and coping with disease. Measurements were repeated at the end of the 8-week program, and following 6- and 12-month intervals.

In comparison with the initial values, a statistically significant improvement became evident in reducing pain, disability, depression, and psychovegetative signs (P < 0.001). Nearly all results remained stable at the 6- and 12-months examinations. Apart from these results, coping measurements demonstrated little improvement in the three factorial coping dimensions. By use of regression analyses, a differentiated description of psychosocial connections became apparent in three different ways of coping (catastrophizing, searching for information, cognitive control) and parameters of disability. Disability levels corresponded poorly with pain descriptions, physical impairment and coping dimensions. This result indicates that disability should be viewed as a separate component in assessing the patients' description of low back pain.

An analysis of coping dimensions demonstrated that current cognitive measures might be too general to explain low back disability adequately. In addition, the results indicate that the use of the 'catastrophizing' factor as a separate variable is questionable, since it may simply be a symptom of depression. The relevance of coping as a sensitive parameter for change is also addressed. It is suggested that an alteration in coping strategies may be an important treatment effect, but is subject to individual prerequisites to maximize treatment response. Thus, future research must focus on the complex interactions between personality variables, environmental factors, and the coping demands posed by the specific nature of pain problems. A more lengthy evaluation of so-called 'fear-avoidance beliefs' in combination with 'disability' and coping dimensions could possibly lead to further treatment on the development of chronicity in chronic low back pain patients.