Pain-focused psychological interventions in women with endometriosis: A systematic review.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to investigate the effectiveness of pain-focused psychological interventions, including mindfulness therapy, in alleviating pain among women with endometriosis.
Results Summary
The study found that mindfulness therapy, along with other psychological interventions, improved and reduced pain in women with endometriosis. Four studies specifically focused on mindfulness therapy, showing positive outcomes.
Population
Women with endometriosis (EMS) experiencing pain.
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) | decrease | pain | women living with endometriosis (EMS) | - | improved and reduced | #1 |
mindfulness therapy | decrease | pain | women living with endometriosis (EMS) | - | improved and reduced | #2 |
yoga | decrease | pain | women living with endometriosis (EMS) | - | improved and reduced | #3 |
psychoeducation | decrease | pain | women living with endometriosis (EMS) | - | improved and reduced | #4 |
progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) training | decrease | pain | women living with endometriosis (EMS) | - | improved and reduced | #5 |
AIMS: As a chronic inflammatory disease, endometriosis (EMS) is often associated with pain affecting different aspects of women's lives. Up to now, a wide variety of interventions have been implemented to alleviate pain in patients with this condition, including pharmacological, surgical, and rarely non-pharmacological ones. Against this background, this review aimed to investigate pain-focused psychological interventions among EMS women. METHODS: A systematic review of the articles published in this field was conducted through a comprehensive search on the databases of Scopus, PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, the Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and Scientific Information Database (SID). The quality of studies was then assessed by the Jadad Scale. RESULTS: In total, 10 articles were entered into this systematic review. The findings further revealed that the pain-focused psychological interventions in patients with EMS were cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) (n = 2), mindfulness therapy (n = 4), yoga (n = 2), psychoeducation (n = 1), and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) training (n = 1). Besides, the findings established that all the given interventions had improved and reduced pain in women living with this condition. Moreover, five articles were of good quality based on the Jadad Scale. CONCLUSION: The study results demonstrated that all the listed psychological interventions had affected pain relief and improvement in women suffering from EMS. Considering the limited number of studies in this field and the fact that there were only five articles endowed with good quality, more high-quality studies could provide stronger evidence to support the implementation of the mentioned interventions influencing pain in patients.