Ferran Vilalta-Abella, Bruno Porras-Garcia, Alexandra Ghiţă, Montserrat Vacas-Moreira, Mónica Prat-Galbany, José Gutiérrez-Maldonado
{"title":"<i>VirtualPain</i>. Preliminary findings from a group-based digital therapeutics intervention for fibromyalgia","authors":"Ferran Vilalta-Abella, Bruno Porras-Garcia, Alexandra Ghiţă, Montserrat Vacas-Moreira, Mónica Prat-Galbany, José Gutiérrez-Maldonado","doi":"10.1177/20494637231210391","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Introduction Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disorder characterized by chronic pain, with significant medical, psychological, and socio-economic implications. Although there is limited evidence, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown to be effective in improving FM symptoms. An alternative to enhance CBT effectiveness is to incorporate digital therapeutics (DTx). Aim We conducted a pilot study to investigate whether the addition of a DTx intervention ( VirtualPain) to cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) can reduce pain perception and associated symptoms in patients with FM. Method Ten patients with FM were initially recruited from a public hospital in Barcelona. The treatment consisted of 6 weeks of VirtualPain group sessions and 16 weeks of CBGT. Measures of catastrophizing, self-efficacy, and coping were recorded before, during, and after the protocol. In the DTx sessions, pain intensity was recorded before and after each session. Results The program (DTx and CBGT) showed a significant improvement in pain-related self-efficacy and relaxation measures. Improvement in pain perception was observed only after the DTx intervention. Conclusions This study provides preliminary results regarding the added value of DTx ( VirtualPain) as part of a CBGT for FM. The use of the program has facilitated a significant reduction in pain perception in each of the VirtualPain sessions, which provides further evidence of how this technology can be beneficial for improving FM treatments.","PeriodicalId":46585,"journal":{"name":"British Journal of Pain","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"British Journal of Pain","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20494637231210391","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disorder characterized by chronic pain, with significant medical, psychological, and socio-economic implications. Although there is limited evidence, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown to be effective in improving FM symptoms. An alternative to enhance CBT effectiveness is to incorporate digital therapeutics (DTx). Aim We conducted a pilot study to investigate whether the addition of a DTx intervention ( VirtualPain) to cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) can reduce pain perception and associated symptoms in patients with FM. Method Ten patients with FM were initially recruited from a public hospital in Barcelona. The treatment consisted of 6 weeks of VirtualPain group sessions and 16 weeks of CBGT. Measures of catastrophizing, self-efficacy, and coping were recorded before, during, and after the protocol. In the DTx sessions, pain intensity was recorded before and after each session. Results The program (DTx and CBGT) showed a significant improvement in pain-related self-efficacy and relaxation measures. Improvement in pain perception was observed only after the DTx intervention. Conclusions This study provides preliminary results regarding the added value of DTx ( VirtualPain) as part of a CBGT for FM. The use of the program has facilitated a significant reduction in pain perception in each of the VirtualPain sessions, which provides further evidence of how this technology can be beneficial for improving FM treatments.
期刊介绍:
British Journal of Pain is a peer-reviewed quarterly British journal with an international multidisciplinary Editorial Board. The journal publishes original research and reviews on all major aspects of pain and pain management. Reviews reflect the body of evidence of the topic and are suitable for a multidisciplinary readership. Where empirical evidence is lacking, the reviews reflect the generally held opinions of experts in the field. The Journal has broadened its scope and has become a forum for publishing primary research together with brief reports related to pain and pain interventions. Submissions from all over the world have been published and are welcome. Official journal of the British Pain Society.