Enhancing Chronic Pain Management
Insights from Peer Support Interventions
Chronic pain is a prevalent global issue, causing significant disability throughout the world.?Chronic pain is defined?as pain lasting beyond 12 weeks. Management of chronic pain involves various strategies such as pharmacological, psychological interventions, physical therapies, and self-management.
Self-management, a critical aspect of chronic pain management, empowers individuals to handle symptoms and lifestyle changes. It encompasses structured programs with components like peer support, which offers emotional and informational aid. Peer support interventions aim to enhance self-management skills in individuals with chronic pain through interactions with peers who share similar conditions.
A new systematic review explores adults' experiences in peer support interventions for chronic non-cancer pain, focusing on format, delivery, role, training, strengths, limitations, barriers, and facilitators.?
Synthesised findings include participants and peer support volunteers perceiving a number of benefits from peer support interventions, which include enhanced purpose, optimism and communication skills and confidence. The systematic review presents a ConQual Summary of Findings that also includes the peer-support interventions that are deemed essential by peer support volunteers and participants.
It is the first systematic review to summarise the experience of participating in peer-support intervention for adults with chronic non-cancer pain. Findings from the systematic review can be used to guide organisations to develop and implement peer-support interventions for adults with chronic non-cancer pain.
The qualitative systematic review is available in the August issue of?JBI Evidence Synthesis:
Arnott, Rachel; Park, Victoria; Rhind, Nicola; Cooper, Kay
JBI Evidence Synthesis?21(8):p 1509-1548, August 2023.?| DOI: 10.11124/JBIES-22-00137