Psychoeducation against depression, anxiety, alexithymia and fibromyalgia: a pilot study in primary care for patients on sick leave
2018 (English)In: Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, ISSN 0281-3432, E-ISSN 1502-7724, Vol. 36, no 2, p. 123-133
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Objectives: Feasibility testing of a psychoeducational method - The Affect School and Script Analyses (ASSA) - in a Swedish primary care setting. Exploring associations between psychological, and medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS). Design: Pilot study. Setting: Three Swedish primary care centers serving 20,000 people. Intervention: 8 weekly 2-hour sessions with a 5-7 participant group led by two instructors - followed by 10 individual hour-long sessions. Subjects: Thirty-six patients, 29 women (81%), on sick-leave due to depression, anxiety, or fibromyalgia. Outcome measures: Feasibility in terms of participation rates and expected improvements of psychological symptoms and MUPS, assessed by self-report instruments pre-, one-week post-, and 18 months post-intervention. Regression coefficients between psychological symptoms and MUPS. Results: The entire 26-hour psychoeducational intervention was completed by 30 patients (83%), and 33 patients (92%) completed the 16-hour Affect School. One-week post-intervention median test score changes were significantly favorable for 27 respondents, with p < .05 after correction for multiple testing for 9 of 11 measures (depression, anxiety, alexithymia, MUPS, general health, self-affirmation, self-love, self-blame, and self-hate); 18 months post intervention the results remained significantly favorable for 15 respondents for 7 of 11 measures (depression, alexithymia, MUPS, general health, self-affirmation, self-love, and self-hate). Conclusions: A psychoeducational method previously untested in primary care for mostly women patients on sick-leave due to depression, anxiety, or fibromyalgia had >80% participation rates, and dear improvements of self-assessed psychological symptoms and MUPS. The ASSA intervention thus showed adequate feasibility in a Swedish primary care setting.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Abingdon-on-Thames: Taylor & Francis, 2018. Vol. 36, no 2, p. 123-133
Keywords [en]
Affective symptoms, alexithymia, anxiety, depression, general practice, medically unexplained physical symptoms, psychotherapy
National Category
Psychology Other Medical Sciences not elsewhere specified
Research subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-76817DOI: 10.1080/02813432.2018.1459225ISI: 000431601000004PubMedID: 29693478Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85046014270OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-76817DiVA, id: diva2:1232465
2018-07-112018-07-112022-12-08Bibliographically approved