Context/background: Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a physically and psychologically debilitating condition. European Association of Urology (EAU) Guidelines (2013) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) guidelines (2012) place strong emphasis upon multi-speciality assessment and liaison, as well as interdisciplinary assessment and intervention in reference to the management of CPP.
Objectives: The aim was to introduce and describe the development and delivery of an interdisciplinary pain management programme (PMP), at a Specialised Pain Management Centre in Liverpool, United Kingdom, for women diagnosed with CPP.
Method: The format and content of the CPP PMP at The Walton Centre, Liverpool, is described and the preliminary results from the CPP PMP are presented.
Results: Preliminary data suggest that outcomes on the specialised CPP PMP indicate that patients are able to make clinically important change across a range of outcome measures. Moreover, these results compare favourably to the established PMP for generalised chronic pain when comparing clinically significant outcomes with the Walton Centre's (a tertiary-level pain management centre) 2013 PMP Audit document. Patients attending the CPP PMP positively appraised the PMP and felt it was useful and supportive to be in a group dedicated to CPP.
Conclusions: This article presents some preliminary results that suggest there is value in delivering a specialised multidisciplinary PMP for this group. There is a clear need for further clinical research into the effectiveness of similar interventions for CPP, including the early identification of those CPP patients who may benefit from both multi-specialty and interdisciplinary management.
Keywords: Chronic pelvic pain; chronic pain; cognitive behavioural therapy; interdisciplinary team; multidisciplinary team; occupational therapy; pain management programme; pain medicine; physiotherapy; psychology; rehabilitation programme; self-management; uro-gynaecology.