Outcome of a psychologically based pain coping skills intervention for chronic knee osteoarthritis pain: Study protocol

Abstract

Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis is a common musculoskeletal condition that causes chronic pain and psychological distress. The biological aspects of arthritis pain can be effectively managed with medication, physiotherapy and surgical procedures. However, no known psychological interventions to manage the psychosocial aspects of chronic pain have been developed in Sri Lanka. The specific aims are (1) to design a psychological intervention for chronic knee osteoarthritis pain, (2) to deliver the intervention and to assess the outcome, and (3) to train physiotherapists and occupational therapists to deliver the designed intervention in the future. Methods: The study was approved by the Ethics Review Committees of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo and the National Hospital Sri Lanka. It will be conducted in three phases: (1) designing a psychological intervention, (2) an experimental study to find the effectiveness of the intervention, and (3) training physiotherapists and occupational therapists to deliver the new designed intervention and evaluating its impact.