Psychological interventions used to treat mental health issues in patients with musculoskeletal conditions: a rapid review.
Creators: name: Horan, Gavin
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Medicine and Health Sciences

description: Background: Musculoskeletal conditions are the most common cause of work-related illness and the second most common cause of loss of working time in the UK (Ingram and Symmons, 2018). Current literature raises the issue that musculoskeletal issues often lead to a significant decline in an individual’s mental health (Briggs et al., 2016). A combination of mental health symptoms in musculoskeletal populations has been linked with poorer clinical outcomes and greater patient dissatisfaction (Trautman et al., 2017). Many reviews examine interventions that target pain management in musculoskeletal patients, but very few evaluate the psychological approaches in treating the mental health component of the patient’s presentation. Therefore, the aim of this rapid review is to explore and identify the psychological interventions (e.g. cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness meditation, etc.) that are used to treat patients with musculoskeletal conditions and co-existing mental health issues. Search strategy: We intend to develop a comprehensive search strategy with key terms including medical subject headings (MeSH) to identify published articles. Additionally, we will search the following databases: MEDLINE and CINAHL from January 2010 to November 2021. We will also review bibliographies and reference lists of eligible studies to consider additional investigations. We will only include studies written in English. Searches will be repeated before final analysis to retrieve any further studies that may meet inclusion criteria. Data extraction: One reviewer will screen and extract data from studies that meet the inclusion criteria using a draft extraction form. A second reviewer will assess the extracted data to ensure it is appropriate and relevant. We will use the TiDiER checklist to guide data extraction of interventions that meet inclusion criteria. Details extracted include study details such as design, sample size, potential conflicts of interest. In addition to this, characteristics of participants (e.g. age, gender, musculoskeletal condition, duration of symptoms, diagnoses, types of mental health) will also be extracted. Risk of Bias: One reviewer will evaluate the risk of bias with full verification of judgments by a second reviewer. The Cochrane risk of bias tool (RoB 1) will be used to evaluate the risk of bias in studies that meet the inclusion criteria. Strategy for data synthesis: We will narratively synthesise the methods of controlled trials which employ the use of psychological interventions to treat mental health conditions in musculoskeletal populations. We will provide a descriptive summary of the included studies. The interventions of studies meeting inclusion criteria will be extracted and synthesised based on various characteristics such as the type of intervention, the method in which the intervention was delivered, the dosage of the intervention given etc. This project will be undertaken as part of a MSc program. References: Briggs, A.M., Cross, M.J., Hoy, D.G., Sànchez-Riera, L., Blyth, F.M., Woolf, A.D. and March, L. (2016). Musculoskeletal Health Conditions Represent a Global Threat to Healthy Aging: A Report for the 2015 World Health Organization World Report on Ageing and Health. The Gerontologist, 56(Suppl 2), pp.S243–S255. Ingram, M. and Symmons, D.P.M. (2018). The burden of musculoskeletal conditions. Medicine, 46(3), pp.152–155. Trautmann, F., Singer, S. and Schmitt, J. (2016). Patients with soft tissue sarcoma comprise a higher probability of comorbidities than cancer-free individuals. A secondary data analysis. European Journal of Cancer Care, 26(6), p.e12605.