Exploring the feasibility, effectiveness, and acceptability of telehealth for delivering a pain management group program: A retrospective study
Ramony Chan, Bernadette Brady, Judy Zou, Matthew McMullan, Sandhiya Ali, Subram Naidu, Renata Bazina
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant changes in healthcare, particularly in pain management. To maintain care, the Multidisciplinary Activity Improvement Program (MAiP), at the Department of Pain Medicine, Liverpool Hospital, was adapted for delivery through telehealth.
Introduction
Since its emergence in December 2019, the global impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has been profound [1]. This impact extends far beyond the loss of lives and includes economic repercussions, increased poverty rates [1], deteriorating mental health [2].
Materials and methods
A single-group retrospective cohort design was utilised. The outcome assessments were conducted before and after participation in the online MAiP. Participant outcomes were assessed using the ePPOC questionnaire as part of routine care.
Results
A total of 33 patients completed the online MAiP program between 2020 and 2022 and were thus eligible for inclusion in this study. However, complete outcome data were available for only 22 participants; the remaining 11 were excluded due to incomplete questionnaires (n = 10) or excessive missing data (n = 1).
Discussion
This study aimed to assess the effectiveness, acceptability, and participant satisfaction of the online-MAiP program, which transitioned to synchronous telehealth delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion
The present study, while preliminary, suggests that synchronous telehealth-based and combined CBT-ACT pain management programs are both acceptable and effective. The online program demonstrated comparable improvements to the face-to-face version.
Citation: Chan R, Brady B, Zou J, McMullan M, Ali S, Naidu S, et al. (2025) Exploring the feasibility, effectiveness, and acceptability of telehealth for delivering a pain management group program: A retrospective study. PLoS One 20(5): e0325298. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325298
Editor: Boyen Huang, University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Received: November 17, 2024; Accepted: May 9, 2025; Published: May 30, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 Chan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting information files.
Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.
Competing interests: No competing interests.
