A COMPARISON OF BEHAVIORAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTIONS FOR FIBROMYALGIA

Objective To compare a comprehensive behavioral intervention with an e ducation/control condition in the treatment of patients with fibromyal gia (FM), and to explore the role of mediators of clinical improvement in both groups. Methods. The effects of the behavioral and education/ control interventions: were evaluated across a IO week treatment perio d and al 6 month followup on measures of pain, depression, disability, pain behaviors, and intervening variables. The behavioral interventio n focused on the development of diverse pain coping skills, while the education/control condition presented information on a range of health related topics without emphasizing skill acquisition. Results. Althou gh improvement across time was Found in depression, self-reported pain behaviors, observed pain behaviors, and myalgia scores, no difference s in these criteria were Found between the behavior;il and education/c ontrol conditions. Multiple regression analyses revealed that changes in helplessness and passive coping were associated with improvement in a number of clinical outcomes. Conclusion. The findings illustrate th e value of psychoeducational interventions in decreasing the psycholog ical and behavioral effect of FM, and the value of reducing dysfunctio nal coping and helplessness in future intervention research.