Scoping Review of Psychological Therapies in Acute Pain Relief-To Whom, From Who, and Which Channels

Chronic pain remains a worldwide burden. This prolonged pain arises from acute pain, especially prolonged postoperative pain. Although there are available psychosocial interventions, the investigation of these interventions in an acute health care setting is underrated. This study aimed to examine existing literature addressing the providers, recipients, and media of psychological interventions in acute pain management.

A scoping review.

Five databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase) were used via access from the University of Pecs, University of Szeged, and the Queensland University of Technology. Inclusion criteria covered studies published from 2013 to 2022 on patients receiving psychological intervention to relieve acute pain. This review excluded studies conducted in pediatrics, reviews, nonexperiments, and study protocols.

Twenty eligible randomized controlled trials applied psychological interventions in alleviating acute pain, including psychoeducation, hypnosis, music therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, emotion regulation, and humanistic approach. The studies had varying characteristics in terms of the type of psychological intervention, the media the interventions are used, the actors performing those, and the setting where the intervention is delivered.

Although most studies showed a decrease in mean pain scores, the results were statistically significant only in a subset of studies. Appropriate psychological interventions help reduce acute pain in both surgical and procedural settings. Music therapy serves as the most easy-to-use intervention, while hypnosis has more flexibility of delivery media. All psychological interventions can be delivered by health care professionals with training.