Interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation for immigrants with chronic pain who need language interpretation.
Karin Uhlin, Elisabeth Persson, Sofie Bäärnhielm and 3 others
PMID 38407432WHAT IT FOUND
Immigrant patients with chronic pain started with worse pain, mood, and fear of movement than native speakers.
They improved significantly in pain intensity, depression, and fear of movement after interdisciplinary rehabilitation with interpreters. However, only women showed these gains; men did not improve on any measure.
Key findings
01Patients in the interpreter-assisted programme had significantly worse baseline pain intensity, number of pain sites, anxiety, depression, quality of life, and fear of movement compared to the ordinary programme group.
02After rehabilitation, the interpreter-assisted group showed significant decreases in pain intensity, depression, and fear of movement, but not in anxiety or health-related quality of life.
03Subgroup analysis showed that improvements in the interpreter-assisted group were driven entirely by women; men in this group did not improve significantly on any measured variable.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study used a non-randomised reference group, so baseline differences (the IPR-LI group was older, less educated, and had worse health) may have influenced outcomes. Follow-up was only immediate; long-term effects are unknown. The sample of men in the IPR-LI group was small (n=21), which limits the certainty of the finding that men did not improve. Questionnaires were completed in Swedish with interpreter assistance, which may have affected validity due to linguistic and cultural translation challenges. Response rates for some instruments were low.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation with interpreters is equally effective for all immigrant patients. The study found no significant improvement in men, and the lack of improvement in anxiety and quality of life for the whole group suggests that benefits may be limited to specific outcomes and demographics.