Avaliação da eficácia de estratégias distrativas com recurso a tecnologia : estudo experimental na dor crónica

Abstract

Chronic pain is a health problem that severely affects the emotional, physical, and social functioning of individuals (Veehof et al., 2016), and is one of the causes of disability experienced by patients on a global scale (Kohrt et al., 2018). In recent years, the use of mobile technology has been increasingly growing, particularly regarding pain self management (Sundararaman et al., 2017). Objectives: The overall objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the Chronic Pain Relief (CPR) app; therefore, we sought to determine whether: there is a change in pain perception with the use of the app; anxiety levels interfere with pain perception; there are significant differences between the experimental and control groups. Regarding the levels of anxiety experienced and pain perception. Method: Fourteen participants, aged between 25 and 61 years, with a formal diagnosis of chronic pain and access to a smartphone adapted to the application, participated in this experimental study. The participants used the Chronic Pain Relief application for 10 weeks. The data obtained were quantitatively analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical measures. Qualitative analysis was performed using content analysis. Results: After completing the use of CPR, most participants in the experimental group reported no decrease in pain perception, and no statistically significant differences were found. Regarding the influence of anxiety on pain perception when using the application, the results indicate no influence. Regarding the difference between the experimental and control groups, in anxiety levels and pain perception, no statistically significant differences were found. Conclusion: Although most participants reported no differences in pain perception, the feedback requested from participants showed that 2 out of 7 participants felt their perception of pain decreased. Regarding anxiety, participants reported that they did not feel significant differences when using the application and only reported that, sometimes, they felt more anxious when they could not score in the game. Regarding the limitations of the present study, it has a small number of participants in the experimental group who followed the proposed plan for using the CPR; a small sample size; and the application is only available for the Android system. Therefore, in future studies, it will be important to work with a larger sample and promote effective compliance with the plan to use the application, which can be facilitated by providing a reminder in the application. It will also be relevant to review the proposed task to increase the participant's level of involvement and, in turn, their motivation. Keywords: chronic pain, treatment, self-management, distractive strategies, smartphone

Date of Award	2023
Original language	Portuguese
Supervisor	Maria Teresa Soares Souto (Supervisor)