EFFECTIVENESS OF A HEALTH EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION N BACK SCHOOL

Abstract

 Introduction: there is no definitive treatment for back pain, but there is moderate evidence that the Back School Program is an effective alternative to those treatments. Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of a Back School eight-week program. Materials and method: quasi-experimental single-group study that compares pre and post interventions of the following tests values: Knowledge Questionnaire (KQ), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (Northwick) and Health Questionnaire SF36 Health Survey (SF36). Pre-intervention data were assessed and compared to a three months after completion evaluation. There were 63 patients, aged between 18 and 65 years that included 40 (63.51%) women and 23 (36.49 %) males. Statistical analysis included a descriptive study and a Student's paired sample t-test to test. Results: an average re-duction of 1.46 points in the VAS (25 %), of 7.17 points in the ODI (28.7 %), with an average increase of 5,07 points in the physical dimension of the SF36 (10.25 %) and 4.38 KQ points. All these differences were statistically significant with p-value < 0.05. Overall, neither the Northwick test nor the SF36 in its psychic dimension presen-ted significant differences. Conclusions: Back School Program is an effective intervention to improve back pain and disability in low back pain, but not for cervical pain; to increase awareness of patients in back self-care; and to in-crease the quality of life related to health in its physical dimension.