[Pain concept modification in chronic pain patients by an educational video.]

The aim of the study was to evaluate an educational video designed to modify the pain concept of chronic pain patients. It is commonly described that chronic pain patients foster an illness model which is dominated by purely medical assumptions about causes of pain and its modulation and treatment. Furthermore the mostly unrealistic hope for total pain relief which is expected from the pain expert guides the patients' seek for help. These concepts are most probable very dysfunctional in a multidisciplinary pain management setting, where psychological interventions are important elements of the treatment. Therefore the video was designed to initiate changes in the patient's attitude towards a multimodal model of pain. The educational pain video was evaluated in an experimental design using a control group to whom a different video on a health related topic (nutrition) was presented. The Ss participating in the study were 47 chronic pain patients of a pain ambulance and 42 patients of a pain clinic (inpatient setting). The results showed that after viewing the pain video the groups differed significantly in their pain concept as predicted. The use of an educational video, like the one evaluated, seems useful to initiate first steps in illness concept modification by expanding and enriching the patients attitude by assumptions about the influence of psychological factors on pain maintenance and management and shaping realistic attitudes towards treatment.