An Interdisciplinary Young Adult Pain Rehabilitation Program: Initial Outcomes Supporting Effectiveness

Chronic pain affects 1 in 9 young adults worldwide. Intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment (IIPT) has shown favorable outcomes in improving in pain intensity, mood, school attendance, and social and physical functioning in pediatric studies.  However, few IIPT programs are designed for young adults (YAs), a distinctly vulnerable developmental stage. Given this limitation, we sought to study the benefits of applying an IIPT model for YAs with chronic pain and functional impairment.

This study aimed to (1) describe the design and implementation of our pilot YA-IIPT program and (2) assess outcomes of YA-IIPT on pain experience, psychological and physical functioning, disability, and quality of life, in YAs with chronic pain and functional impairment.

In this observational study, we adapted the pediatric IIPT model for YAs using a biopsychosocial approach to chronic pain treatment. Outcome measures included physical functioning, psychological functioning, disability, quality of life, and pain experience. Paired t tests and repeated-measure ANOVAs were used to compare admission, discharge, 6-week, and 6-month follow-up data.

Patients showed clinically and statistically significant improvements across the majority of physical and psychological functioning, disability, quality of life, and pain experience measures between admission and discharge ( P <0.01). Most improvements were maintained at 6-week and 6-month follow-ups.

On average, participants in our YA-IIPT program demonstrated clinically and statistically significant improvements in most areas of functioning, quality of life, and pain experience that were maintained after discharge. Further research is needed on YA pain treatment and whether outcomes after YA-IIPT are sustained long-term.