Juliana B. de Souza (M.Sc)a(*), Serge Marchand (Ph.D.)a,b, Jacques Charest (Ph.D.)b, Michelle Provencher (M.Sc)b
a Université de Sherbrooke
b Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiascamingue
Fibromyalgia is characterized by complex clinical manifestations including diffuse and persistent pain1. Promising results have been obtained using non-pharmacological approaches2,3,4,5,6. Seeing that the pain is a sensory and emotional experience6,7 its treatment should be an interdisciplinary approache. Some interventions are geared towards the alleviation of chronic pain, like the Interactional School of Lower-Back Pain8,9. The goal of this study is to evaluate an adaptation of this intervention model for use among fibromyalgic patients. Our hypothesis is that the patients of the Interactional School of Fibromyalgia (ISF) will show: a decrease in perceived pain and an increase in their quality of life. The ISF’s goal is to offer a variety of personalized treatment tools and to encourage the use of self-strategies intervening on many life spheres: physical, psychological and nutritional. Our school will include groups of 8 patients and 2 health care professionals during 11 weeks (9 meetings). Each of the 15 women suffering from fibromyalgia that participated at the ISF have been evaluated before and after the intervention. Our dependent variables are: Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), SF-36 (Quality of Life), Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI), tender point sensitivity, journal of pain and the cold pressure test. With a Wilcoxon Rank Parried Test we have found a significant difference (p<0.05) for a decrease of FIQ, MPI, quotidian pain and on the sensitivity of tender points, and an increase on the quality of life. At the experimental pain, there is a significant reduction in the hyperalgesia. We evaluated at the first and the last one-meeting group the self-capacity of fibromyalgia management and their expectations towards the ISF. Our results are superior to those expected by the group patients. These results are very encouraging and we now must wait for the follow-up results.
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