Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30111527›Full record

ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2018

Effectiveness of Serious Gaming During the Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation of Patients With Complex Chronic Pain or Fatigue: Natural Quasi-Experiment.

Miel Ap Vugts, Margot Cw Joosen, Agali Mert, Aglaia Me Zedlitz, Hubertus Jm Vrijhoef

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Miel Ap Vugts *Tranzo Scientific Center for Care and Welfare, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-5367-9334
Margot Cw JoosenTranzo Scientific Center for Care and Welfare, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-5064-7302
Agali MertMert Medical, Utrecht, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0003-3419-0407
Aglaia Me ZedlitzLeiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Department of Health Medical and Neuropsychology, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-8983-361X
Hubertus Jm VrijhoefDepartment of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-5539-4671

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCurrent evidence for the effectiveness of specialist multidisciplinary programs for burdensome chronic pain and functional somatic syndromes drives the effort to improve approaches, strategies, and delivery modes. It remains unknown to what extent and in what respect serious gaming during the regular outpatient rehabilitation can contribute to health outcomes.

objectiveThe objectives of our study were to determine the effect of additional serious gaming on (1) physical and emotional functioning in general; (2) particular outcome domains; and (3) patient global impressions of change, general health, and functioning and to determine (4) the dependency of serious gaming effects on adherence.

methodsWe conducted a naturalistic quasi-experiment using embedded qualitative methods. The intervention group patients received an additional guided (mindfulness-based) serious gaming intervention during weeks 9-12 of a 16-week rehabilitation program at 2 sites of a Dutch rehabilitation clinic. Simultaneously, 119 control group patients followed the same program without serious gaming at 2 similar sites of the same clinic. Data consisted of 10 semistructured patient interviews and routinely collected patient self-reported outcomes. First, multivariate linear mixed modeling was used to simultaneously estimate a group effect on the outcome change between weeks 8 and 16 in 4 primary outcomes: current pain intensity, fatigue, pain catastrophizing, and psychological distress. Second, similar univariate linear mixed models were used to estimate effects on particular (unstandardized) outcomes. Third, secondary outcomes (ie, global impression of change, general health, functioning, and treatment satisfaction) were compared between the groups using independent t tests. Finally, subgroups were established according to the levels of adherence using log data. Influences of observed confounding factors were considered throughout analyses.

resultsOf 329 eligible patients, 156 intervention group and 119 control group patients (N=275) with mostly chronic back pain and concomitant psychosocial problems participated in this study. Of all, 119 patients played ≥75% of the game. First, the standardized means across the 4 primary outcomes showed a significantly more favorable degree of change during the second part of the treatment for the intervention group than for the control group (beta=-0.119, SE=0.046, P=.009). Second, the intervention group showed a greater outcome change in depressive mood (b=-2.748, SE=1.072, P=.011) but not in "insufficiency" or concentration problems. Third, no significant group effects on secondary outcomes were found. Fourth, adherence was generally high and invariant.

conclusionsThe findings of this study suggest a very small favorable average effect on relevant health outcomes of additional serious gaming during multidisciplinary rehabilitation. The indication that serious gaming could be a relatively time-efficient component warrants further research into if, when, how, and for which patients serious gaming could be cost-effective in treatment and why.

trial registrationNetherlands Trial Registry NTR6020; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=6020 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/71IIoTXkj).

Indexed as

Chronic PainFatigueFemaleHumansInterdisciplinary StudiesInternetMaleVideo Gamesbehavioral interventionchronic painmusculoskeletal diseaserehabilitationserious gamestherapy

Identifiers

PMID30111527
PMCPMC6115601

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.