Motivational interviewing and behavioral compliance in chronic pain patients: A treatment outcome study

Multimodal treatment of chronic pain is often met by patient resistance. Although patients seek a cure for pain, some patients are resistant to alternative therapies or non-pharmacological interventions that may help them to manage chronic pain. Motivational Interviewing is a therapeutic intervention that is known to work well with resistant behaviors often found in the addiction treatment setting. Until recently, few studies have examined the efficacy of a brief Motivational Interview within the chronic pain treatment setting. This study examined the effects of a single Motivational Interview on patient participation, prescription drug use, and responses on the Pain Stage of Change Questionnaires (PSOCQ) within a chronic pain day-treatment program. The results indicated no significant difference between the intervention, control, and benign groups. Results of this study suggest that Motivational Interviewing is not effective as single, brief intervention. The clinical implication of these results suggests that there are significant differences between resistance behaviors exemplified by chronic pain patients as opposed to patients of addiction. Furthermore, it is suggested that a single session of motivational interviewing is not sufficient to effect change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)