{"paper_id":"6933d6dd-e265-4141-b817-3338adbc8f8f","body_text":"P O S T E R P R E S E N T A T I O N Open Access\nP05.41. Development and evaluation of group\nmedical visits for medically underserved women\nwith chronic pelvic pain\nM Chao *, P Abercrombie\nFrom International Research Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health 2012\nPortland, Oregon, USA. 15-18 May 2012\nPurpose\nChronic pelvic pain (CPP) severely impacts quality of\nlife and is one of the most common medical problems\namong women. Effective management of CPP is needed,\nparticularly for underserved women with limited access\nto quality care. We developed and evaluated group med-\nical visits for women with CPP drawing from: (1) the\nCentering model, an innovative approach to group-\nbased healthcare across the lifecourse; and (2) integra-\ntive medicine emphasizing quality of life through\npatient-centered care.\nMethods\nCurriculum for ten monthly g roup visits of Centerin-\ngIMPPACT (Centering and Integrative Medicine for\nchronic Pelvic PAin Comprehensive Treatment)\nincluded mind-body approaches to managing CPP. A\npilot study was conducted among patients with CPP at a\nsafety net hospital. Qualitative and quantitative data\nwere collected at baseline and three follow-up time\npoints to assess feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary\ndata on efficacy.\nResults\nCenteringIMPPACT particip ants (n=12) were on aver-\nage 42 years of age; 58% were African American; 42%\nhad attended some college; and 83% had household\nincomes of less than $35,000; 42% reported being in fair\nor poor health. From baseline to 3-month follow-up,\naverage number of days that women reported limitations\nof usual activities decreased from 24 to 15. Health-\nrelated quality of life improved slightly; average life\ninterference due to CPP decreased from 2.64 to 2.43.\nMental health did not improve: scores on the Patient\nHealth Questionnaire PHQ-9 for Depression increased\nfrom 11.25 to 12.43. Based on qualitative data, partici-\npants experienced healthcare empowerment through\nlearning to advocate for themselves and increased sup-\nport and hope from the groups.\nConclusion\nPreliminary data from this study indicates some\nimprovements in functional activities and health-related\nquality of life among medically underserved women\nwith CPP. Group medical visits are a viable model of\ncomprehensive care for CPP in safety net healthcare set-\ntings. Additional data are needed to further evaluate the\neffects of CenteringIMPPACT.\nPublished: 12 June 2012\ndoi:10.1186/1472-6882-12-S1-P401\nCite this article as: Chao and Abercrombie: P05.41. Development and\nevaluation of group medical visits for medically underserved women\nwith chronic pelvic pain. BMC Complementary\nand Alternative Medicine 2012 12(Suppl 1):P401.\nUniv of California, San Francisco, Osher Center for Integrative Med, San\nFrancisco, USA\nChao and Abercrombie BMC Complementary\nand Alternative Medicine 2012, 12(Suppl 1):P401\nhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/12/S1/P401\n© 2012 Chao and Abercrombie; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative\nCommons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and\nreproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","source_license":"CC0","license_restricted":false}