Non-specific effects of primary care interventions: Harnessing the benefits to improve outcomes
Proposed by: Majid Artus, Danielle van Der Windt, Aage Indahl, et al
Only modest and often insignificant differences are found between interventions in trials on the effectiveness of clinical interventions for non-specific low back pain. The consistent overall improvement in symptoms in clinical trials suggests a response that is largely not specific to a particular intervention, but related to non-specific factors such as patients’ beliefs or conception, trial’s setting, or practitioner’s interaction. We will explore ways to harness the non-specific effects of primary care interventions for back pain to improve patients’ outcomes. Active participation is invited from all those who have interest in this area. There will be a pre-workshop activity involving a web-based Delphi-style survey to identify non-specific effects of clinical interventions for back pain in primary care and their potential role in current research on back pain. In the workshop, themes from the pre-workshop survey will be discussed, then small groups will explore ways to harness these non-specific effects. A final consensus plan will then be agreed for research priorities in this area and will be published.
Ancillary Materials
Preworkshop Survey: Non-specific effects, Forum X
12/01/08