Effect of Cognitive Pain Self-Management Program on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Women with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Pilot Study

Background: chronic musculoskeletal pain is a worldwide health problem. anxiety and depression are common among patients suffering from chronic pain. self-management strategies are used to help patients manage the emotional distress associated with pain. aim: to evaluate the effects of cognitive pain self-management program (cpsmp) on depression, anxiety, and stress in women with chronic pain. method: this pilot study with a pretest-posttest design performed on 20 women with chronic pain, who were referred to imam-reza and qaem clinic centers and clinical psychology center of ferdowsi university of mashhad, iran, during june-october 2014. the participants randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. the intervention comprised of eight 120-min weekly group sessions. cpsmp employs the principles of cognitive therapy and self-management program strategies. the control group received regular treatment sessions. at pre-and post-test, the participants completed depression, anxiety, and stress scale (dass-21). the data were analyzed using wilcoxon and mann-whitney u tests. results: the mean ages of the intervention and control groups were 35.2±9 and 32.5±11 years, respectively. after the intervention, mann-whitney u test did not reflect a significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of depression (p=0.14). moreover, the results of mann-whitney test revealed a significant difference between the groups regarding anxiety (p<0.001) and stress (p=0.04). implications for practice: cpsmp can be effective for reducing anxiety and stress in women with chronic pain. further studies with larger sample sizes and more extended follow-ups are recommended.