Mind Body Intervention for Chronic Lower Back Pain

The VAS is a patient completed analogue measure that evaluates pain intensity on a 100 mm long horizontal line, which is anchored at each end with a statement representing the extremes of the dimension being measured. In this case the left hand side reads, "no pain" and the right hand side reads "worst pain possible". The VAS scale utilized will assess pain at the current time. The VAS has been established as a reliable, valid and generalizable measure that can be administered in a wide range of clinical and experimental settings.

Health outcomes assessment has advanced to a point where generic health-related quality of life (HRQL) measures are often used to examine the health status of populations and the effects of medical interventions. Generic HRQL profile measures, such as the SF-36 Health Survey, provide multiple health domains scores (e.g., physical function, mental health, pain, vitality, etc.), but not an overall index score. Patient reported outcome measurement information system has developed a quality of life tool that provides an overall index score for quality of life. The main advantage of the PROMIS measures over other static health status measures is that the PROMIS domain item banks and scores allow flexibility in administration using either targeted short forms or computerized adaptive testing. This form has recently been validated in comparison to the EuroQual.

Cherkin et al, in the evaluation of a physician education program developed a patient satisfaction questionnaire which was found to be reliable and valid. The questionnaire utilized in this study will incorporate these same questions. Additional questions to be included focus on the burden of the data collection activities, and suggestions for subject recruitment.