Betydelsen av multimodal rehabilitering för nedstämdhet, oro och fysiska begränsningar hos patienter med långvarig smärta

The aim of this study was to compare perceived disability in daily activities, anxiety and depression for patients with chronic pain (>3 month), before and after rehabilitation. Another aim was to examine if there were any correlations between disability in daily activities and the extent of anxiety and depression before and after rehabilitation. For the measurements, Disability Rating Index (DRI) that measures disability in daily activities, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) ) which measures the extent of anxiety and depression were used. The study was carried out with 50 patients who had suffered from chronic pain and with the objective to return to work after rehabilitation. Of these, 90 % were female. The measurements were carried out at three measure points; before rehabilitation, seven weeks after rehabilitation and one year after rehabilitation. The main result did not show any statistically significant improvement in ability to perform daily activities. The only significant difference that emerged was an improvement in anxiety seven weeks after rehabilitation compared with before. There were significant correlations between the ability to perform daily activities and anxiety and depression before rehabilitation. There was also a significant correlation between the ability to perform daily activities and depression after rehabilitation. Conclusions drawn from this paper are that there seems to be a decrease in feelings of anxiety after rehabilitation and also that there appears to exist a correlation between disability and depression