Effects of a Mass Media Behavioral Treatment for Chronic Headache: A Pilot Study

This article presents the results of a pilot study evaluating the efficacy of a mass media self‐help behavioral treatment program for chronic headache. The program consisted of a self‐help textbook, an exercise book, 10 television programs, 11 radio programs, and 3 audiocassettes with relaxation tra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Headache 1997-07, Vol.37 (7), p.415-420
Main Authors: de Bruijn-Kofman, A.T., van De Wiel, H., Groenman, N.H., Sorbi, M.J., Klip, E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analgesics - therapeutic use
Behavior Therapy - methods
behavioral treatment
Biological and medical sciences
Chronic Disease
Diseases of the nervous system
Evaluation Studies as Topic
Female
Headache - drug therapy
Headache - prevention & control
Headache - therapy
Humans
Male
Mass Media
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
migraine
Netherlands
patient education
Pilot Projects
Radiotherapy. Instrumental treatment. Physiotherapy. Reeducation. Rehabilitation, orthophony, crenotherapy. Diet therapy and various other treatments (general aspects)
Self Care - methods
tension-type headache
Vasoconstrictor Agents - therapeutic use
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Summary:This article presents the results of a pilot study evaluating the efficacy of a mass media self‐help behavioral treatment program for chronic headache. The program consisted of a self‐help textbook, an exercise book, 10 television programs, 11 radio programs, and 3 audiocassettes with relaxation training. Approximately 15000 headache sufferers purchased the book and relaxation tapes. A random sample of 271 respondents participated in the effect study; the pretraining and posttraining data of 164 subjects were available for analysis. Multivariate testing of the pretraining and posttraining results showed highly significant reductions in headache activity and medication intake at 4‐month follow‐up. A reduction of 50% or more in headache parameters and medication intake was achieved by 40% to 60% of the patients. Work absenteeism was significantly reduced. The differences between the diagnostic groups were not significant. Mass media behavioral treatment seems to be a viable treatment alternative for chronic headache and highly promising in terms of gain in quality of life, decrease in economic loss, and cost‐effectiveness in health care.
ISSN:0017-8748
1526-4610
DOI:10.1046/j.1526-4610.1997.3707415.x