Journal article
Positive messages may reduce patient pain: A meta-analysis
- Abstract:
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Introduction Current treatments for pain have limited benefits and worrying side effects. Some studies suggest that pain is reduced when clinicians deliver positive messages. However, the effects of positive messages are heterogeneous and have not been subject to meta-analysis. We aimed to estimate the efficacy of positive messages for pain reduction.
Methods We included randomized trials of the effects of positive messages in a subset of the studies included in a recent systematic review of context factors for treating pain. Several electronic databases were searched. Reference lists of relevant studies were also searched. Two authors independently undertook study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment, and analyses. Our primary outcome measures were differences in patient- or observer-reported pain between groups who were given positive messages and those who were not.
Results Of the 16 randomized trials (1703 patients) that met the inclusion criteria, 12 trials had sufficient data for meta-analysis. The pooled standardized effect size was −0.31 (95% confidence interval [CI] −0.61 to −0.01, p = 0.04, I2 = 82%). The effect size remained positive but not statistically significant after we excluded studies considered to have a high risk of bias (standard effect size −0.17, 95% CI −0.54 to 0.19, P = 0.36, I2 = 84%).
Conclusion Care of patients with chronic or acute pain may be enhanced when clinicians deliver positive messages about possible clinical outcomes. However, we have identified several limitations of the present study that suggest caution when interpreting the results. We recommend further high-quality studies to confirm (or falsify) our result.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 473.2KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1016/j.eujim.2017.03.005
Authors
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Journal:
- European Journal of Integrative Medicine More from this journal
- Volume:
- 11
- Pages:
- 31-38
- Publication date:
- 2017-03-21
- Acceptance date:
- 2017-03-15
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1876-3839
- ISSN:
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1876-3820
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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pubs:686475
- UUID:
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uuid:03b59929-a694-4ae0-9ea3-ec66813d273d
- Local pid:
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pubs:686475
- Source identifiers:
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686475
- Deposit date:
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2017-03-21
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Elsevier GmbH
- Copyright date:
- 2017
- Rights statement:
- © 2017 Elsevier GmbH
- Notes:
- This is the author accepted manuscript following peer review version of the article. The final version is available online from Elsevier at: 10.1016/j.eujim.2017.03.005
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