A 12-h combined physical and psychological treatment programme for patients with persistent back pain

This service evaluation analysed the long-term clinical outcomes, as measured by the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), of a 12-h group-based, multidisciplinary, combined physical and psychological treatment programme for patients with persistent back pain in a secondary care setting. Between April 2012 and December 2015, 373 patients attended the programme, with outcome measures obtained for 272 patients post-treatment. We randomly selected 120 patients who had completed treatment, for long-term outcome measurement follow-up, and gained outcome measures for 40 patients in total. At a median follow-up of 27 months post-treatment, the results demonstrated significant improvements in both clinical outcome measures. We conclude that a brief combined physical and psychological treatment programme appears to be effective at reducing back disability and pain self-efficacy, with improvements maintained in the longer term.