Evaluation of an Intensive Interdisciplinary Pain Treatment Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Adolescents With Chronic Pain and Their Parents: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial

Functional disorders (FD) are present across the age span and are commonly encountered in somatic health care. Psychological therapies have proven effective, but mostly the effects are slight to moderate. The advent of third wave cognitive behavioural therapies launched an opportunity to potentially improve treatments for FD.A narrative review of the literature on the application of mindfulness-based therapies (MBT) and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) in children and adult populations with FD.There were very few and mainly preliminary feasibility studies in children and adolescents. For adults there were relatively few trials of moderate to high methodological quality. Ten MBT randomised trials and 15 ACT randomised trials of which 8 were internet-delivered were identified for more detailed descriptive analysis. There was no evidence to suggest higher effects of third wave treatments as compared to CBT. For MBT, there seemed to be minor effects comparable to active control conditions. A few interventions combining second and third wave techniques found larger effects, but differences in outcomes, formats and dosage hamper comparability.Third wave treatments are getting established in treatment delivery and may contribute to existing treatments for FD. Future developments could further integrate second and third wave treatments across the age span. Elements unambiguously _targeting specific illness beliefs and exposure should be included. The benefit of actively engaging close relatives in the treatment not only among younger age groups but also in adults, as well as the effect of more multimodal treatment programmes including active rehabilitation, needs to be further explored.The methodological quality of third wave interventions for FD should be improved, especially in younger age groups.The effect of ACT interventions may be comparable to CBT in adults with FD.The evidence for third wave interventions in young people with FD is still very limited.Newer studies combining second and third wave treatments show some promise.Agreement on, and for child populations further development of, core outcomes, could help determine effect across studies.The methodological quality of third wave interventions for FD should be improved, especially in younger age groups.The effect of ACT interventions may be comparable to CBT in adults with FD.The evidence for third wave interventions in young people with FD is still very limited.Newer studies combining second and third wave treatments show some promise.Agreement on, and for child populations further development of, core outcomes, could help determine effect across studies.

Acceptance of pain is a predictor of pain-related disability and treatment outcome in adolescents with pain. This variable has been previously measured using the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire for Adolescents (CPAQ-A, McCracken, Gauntlett-Gilbert, & Eccleston, 2010). We set out to create a short, 8-item, form of this instrument that retained its factor structure and clinical utility. Methods We used data collected from two independent samples of adolescents attending residential treatment for disabling chronic pain (N = 187 and N = 159). Both groups completed the 20-item CPAQ-A and indices of functioning and distress. We carried out item reduction and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on the first sample, repeating this on the second sample and examining the new scale's correlations with clinically relevant variables. Results An 8-item scale was created with 4 items assigned to each established factor (Pain Willingness, Activity Engagement). CFA confirmed this factor structure and it replicated in Sample 2. The new scale (the CPAQ-A8) was sensitive to treatment, and correlated as well with clinically important variables as its full length version. Some items in the new scale differed from the adult CPAQ-8. Conclusions Measures of pain acceptance have been previously developed and validated in pediatric and adult samples. This study showed that pain acceptance can be indexed by a brief, yet factorially valid, short form of the CPAQ-A that uses fewer than 50% of the items of the full-length scale and has demonstrated acceptable validity and sensitivity to treatment.

Objectives: Studies have proven that improving patients' acceptance of chronic pain could be an effective therapy for alleviating pain and other symptoms. Our objectives were to investigate the correlation between chronic pain acceptance and clinical variables in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and the prediction role of chronic pain acceptance for biologics treatment. Methods: First, 167 AS patients were recruited to complete a series of questionnaires, including the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK). Bivariate correlation analysis was utilized to investigate the correlation between pain acceptance and clinical variables. Based on the level of chronic pain acceptance and serum C-reactive protein (CRP), patients were separated into four subgroups. Then, another 68 patients initiating anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) treatment were recruited to complete the questionnaires at baseline (T0) and 3 months after treatment (T3). The changes in clinical variables and treatment response were compared between multiple subgroups. Results: Chronic pain acceptance had strong correlations with anxiety, depression and fear of movement, and moderate correlations with BASFI and pain intensity. Both activity engagement (AE) and pain willingness (PW) had significant correlations with pain intensity, BASFI and psychological status. In addition, AE had a significant correlation with disease duration, while PW had a significant correlation with ASDAS-CRP. Subgroup analysis showed that patients with low chronic pain acceptance and high levels of serum CRP had the highest BASDAI. Among patients initiating anti-TNF treatment, those with high pain acceptance and high levels of serum CRP achieved the most obvious reduction in BASDAI after 3 months treatment. Conclusion: Pain acceptance is a new tool to assess pain in AS which may also reflect physical and psychological status. Clinicians should identify high-risk patients with low Li et al. Chronic Pain Acceptance in Ankylosing Spondylitis chronic pain acceptance and high levels of serum CRP, and give psychological and pharmacological intervention promptly. Moreover, the combination of baseline chronic pain acceptance and serum CRP level could be used to predict the treatment response in AS patients initiating biologics treatment.