Fibromyalgia patients’ perceptions of treatment outcomes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of patients’ perceptions of treatment outcomes following attendance of a multidisciplinary treatment programme for fibromyalgia: A mixed methods approach.
IRAS ID
140118
Contact name
Joanna Adams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Research summary
Fibromyalgia syndrome is a complex musculoskeletal condition. A major symptom is chronic widespread pain (Wolfe et al. 2010). Statistics based (numerical) research showing the effectiveness of different treatments for fibromyalgia is plentiful (Nüesch et al. 2012). However this research excludes valuable evidence representing patients’ values (Shaw & Shaw 2011). There is also heavy reliance on using standardised patient reported outcome measures (PROMS) before and after treatment to measure clinical outcomes. Little is known about the relationship between using PROMS to measure treatment outcomes in fibromyalgia and patients’ views of treatment outcomes (van Koulil et al. 2009) that they feel are important.
A mixed methods approach will be used. Numerical data, using pre- and post intervention PROMS outcomes of participants (n=350), attending a multidisciplinary treatment programme for fibromyalgia will be analysed. From these, a small (purposive) sample of six participants will be selected and interviewed using in-depth semi-structured interviews. The interview schedule will include questions from the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR) and Arthritis Self Efficacy Scale-8 (ASES-8) to explore the participants responses to their questionnaire answers. SPSS will be used to run a cross sectional analysis of the numerical data, using descriptive statistics. Interview data will be transcribed and analysed, using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke 2006).
Emerging themes will be compared with the participants’ written responses to their PROMS. This will provide valuable insights into the meanings behind the responses that the participants report in their PROMS. It will give the participants a voice to express what is important to them by attending a multidisciplinary treatment programme for fibromyalgia. These areas may not be fully identified through the use of standardised PROMS alone. Identifying outcomes that are seen as important to patients, but may not be fully reflected in the PROMS used, could improve future treatment by tailoring it to individual needs.
REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NW/0096
Date of REC Opinion
14 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion