IMPACT Pain Management Program Results
Results of the IMPACT Program
Clients assessed by the Multidisciplinary Pain Management Clinic complete a battery of self-report inventories as part of their initial assessment. The results of these are used to assist the Multidisciplinary Pain team to understand how well clients are functioning with their pain.
For the clients who attend the IMPACT program, these same measurements are taken on the first day of the program, at the end of stage 1 of the program (Day 12), the end of stage 2 (1 month post IMPACT review) and again when reviewed 6-12 months following completeion of the IMPACT program. These results are a useful way to gauge improvements in the level of functioning for those who undertake the program as well as the efficacy of the pain management program.
The results of these ongoing assessments suggest that, on average, clients assessed at the Multidisciplinary Pain Management Clinic display poor levels of coping with their persistent pain when measured on a number of factors known to be associated with level of functioning with pain.
Clients who take part in the IMPACT pain management program were found to be statistically no different from the average client assessed at the clinic when assessed at the outset of the program.
However participation in the IMPACT program was found to be associated with statistically significant improvements in their level of functioning when measured at the end of the 3 week active phase of the program. In addition, these improvements were found to be maintained, and in many cases with ongoing improvements, when patients were reviewed again 1 month and 6-12 months later.