Views of patients suffering from Failed Back Surgery Syndrome on their health and their ability to adapt to daily life and self-management: A qualitative exploration

Abstract

Background The clinical outcomes of Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) therapy in patients with a Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS) is mostly done by standardized pain and quality of life measurements instruments and hardly account for personal feelings and needs as a basis for a patient-centred approach and shared decision making. Objectives The objective of this study is to explore perspectives on personal health and quality of life (QoL) in FBSS patients concerning their physical-, psychological and spiritual well-being prior to receiving an SCS system. Methods We performed face-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews to obtain descriptive and detailed data on personal health, guided by the Web diagram of Positive Health (Huber et al.) and a topic list. The following main topics were assessed qualitatively: 1) Bodily functioning, 2) Mental function and perception 3) Spiritual dimension, 4) Quality of life, 5) Social and societal participation and 6) Daily functioning. Results Seventeen FBSS patients (eight male, nine female) were included from April–November 2019 at the department of pain medicine in the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the Netherlands. Median age 49 years; range 28 to 67 years, and patients underwent between one and five lumbar surgical operations. The duration of their chronic pain was between four and 22 years. After analyzing the interviews, three themes emerged: 1) dealing with chronic pain, 2) the current situation regarding aspects of positive health, and 3) future perspectives on health and quality of life. These themes arose from eleven categories and a hundred ninety codes. Conclusion This qualitative study explored FBSS patients ‘views on their health and the ability to adapt to daily life having complex chronic pain, and showed that patients experienced shortcomings in daily life within the six dimensions of the Web diagram of Positive Health before the SCS implant.

Rapid Review on the Concept of Positive Health and Its Implementation in Practice

“…Furthermore, eight articles reported that the dimensions of PH were part of their qualitative research methods, either during data collection [ 34 , 37 , 52 , 59 , 71 ] or as a framework during data analysis to organise themes based on the various dimensions [ 43 , 52 , 67 , 69 , 71 ].…”

Non-somatic Suffering in Palliative Care: A Qualitative Study on Patients’ Perspectives

“…[34][35][36] In this field of research on suffering, several studies have used a qualitative design when aiming to understand and explain this phenomenon. [37][38][39] The study was approved by the research ethics committee of the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud de l'Île-de Montréal (Certificate # . All participants signed a consent form stating that their participation was voluntary.…”

Lessons learned from the experiences of patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPP syndrome) with a multidisciplinary consultation: a qualitative study

“…The first section included questions based on the six dimensions of health according to the Machteld Huber model: bodily functions, mental well-being, meaningfulness, quality of life, participation, and daily functioning. [37][38][39] These questions delineated how pain affects a patient's life within the context of the six dimensions of health. The second part focused on the experiences of participants with the MDC and ideally led to a proposal of the participant to optimize CPP syndrome care.…”