Empowering Patients: A Multicomponent Workshop Improves Self-Management and Quality of Life in Chronic Pain

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Save Related Papers Chat with paper by María Victoria Ruiz-Romero 1,2,3ORCID,María Begoña Gómez-Hernández 1,2,3,Ana Porrúa-Del Saz 1,María Blanca Martínez-Monrobé 1,2,3,Natalia Gutiérrez-Fernández 1,4,Almudena Arroyo-Rodríguez 2,3,*ORCID,Rosa Anastasia Garrido-Alfaro 1,Néstor Canal-Diez 4,María Dolores Guerra-Martín 5,6,*ORCID andConsuelo Pereira-Delgado 1,2,3 1 San Juan de Dios del Aljarafe Hospital, Bormujos, 41930 Seville, Spain 2 San Juan de Dios Foundation, 28015 Madrid, Spain 3 Health Sciences Department, San Juan de Dios School, Comillas Pontifical University, Bormujos, 28036 Sevilla, Spain 4 Semillero de Investigación José Bueno O.H., San Juan de Dios University Nursing Center, Bormujos, 41930 Seville, Spain 5 Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Podiatry, University of Seville, 41009 Seville, Spain 6 Seville Institute of Biomedicine (IBiS), 41013 Seville, Spain * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed. Med. Sci. 2025, 13(4), 319; https://doi.org/10.3390/medsci13040319 Submission received: 2 November 2025 / Revised: 1 December 2025 / Accepted: 9 December 2025 / Published: 15 December 2025 Downloadkeyboard_arrow_down Browse Figure Versions Notes Abstract Backgruond: Chronic pain is a prevalent and disabling condition, affecting 20–30% of the global population, which requires multidisciplinary approaches integrating non-pharmacological therapies and promoting patient engagement in self-management. Objective: To describe the structure, content, outcomes, and lessons learned from multicomponent workshops for chronic non-cancer pain using non-pharmacological therapies. Methods: A quasi-experimental before–after study was conducted in patients attending a chronic pain workshop at San Juan de Dios Hospital (Bormujos, Seville, Spain) between November 2021 and May 2024, with a 3-month follow-up, Validated scales and an ad hoc patient survey were administered at baseline, immediately post-workshop, and at 3-month follow-up. Furthermore, comparative analysis was conducted 4 months before and after the intervention for emergency visits and consultations, medication consumption, and employment status. Analyses employed Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests (categorical variables); student’s t-tests or Mann–Whitney U (between-group); paired t-tests or Wilcoxon (within-group pre–post); and effect sizes (Cohen’s d, Rosenthal’s r). Significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: 197 patients completed the workshop; 178 (90.4%) were women, mean age: 55.0; 114 (57.9%) had fibromyalgia. Reductions were observed in: pain (scale 0–10) (baseline: 7.0; end of workshop: 5.0; 3 months: 5.0; p < 0.001); anxiety (13.0; 9.0; 11.0; p < 0.001); and depression (11.4; 7.2; 6.8; p < 0.001) (scales 0–21). Increases were noted in: well-being (scale 0–10) (4.0; 6.0; 5.0; p < 0.001); quality of life (scale 0–1) (0.399; 0.581; 0.556; p < 0.001); health status (scale 0–100) (40.0; 60.0; 60.0; p < 0.001); self-esteem (scale 9–36) (23.5; 27.1; 26.6; p < 0.001); and resilience (scale 6–30) (17.0; 18.0; 18.0; p = 0.002, p < 0.001). PROMs were completed by 189 patients at the end of the workshop and 110 at 3 months: pain decreased (end of workshop: 76.7%; 3 months: 80.7%); medication decreased (80.5%; 78.1%); and habits improved (87.2%; 87.6%). 40 patients (37.4%) reduced emergency visits and scheduled consultations. Overall satisfaction: 9.7. Conclusions: The workshop enhanced patients’ self-management and produced improvements in pain, quality of life, emotional well-being, and self-esteem, with effects maintained at 3 months.