Examining the effects of activity management in women with fibromyalgia syndrome: A randomized controlled study

This study was planned to investigate the effects of activity management on symptoms, activity patterns, occupational performance, anxiety, depression, occupational balance and quality of life in women with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). The study included 31 women with FMS. Participants were randomly divided into intervention (n=15) and control (n=16) groups. The intervention group received online activity management training twice a week for 4 weeks. For each participant, physical and sociodemographic characteristics were recorded and the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Pain-Activity Patterns Scale, Canadian Occupational Performance Scale, Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, Occupational Balance Questionnaire, and Nottingham Health Profile were administered twice, at baseline and at the end, and the results were compared. In the intervention group, significant differences were found in symptom (p=0,002), occupational performance (p=0,001), satisfaction (p=0,001), anxiety (p=0,025), pain (p=0,007) and emotional reaction (p=0,026) parameters of quality of life and it was seen that the affected activity patterns (p=0,012) were regulated. In the control group, a change was reported in the finding of social isolation (p=0,028) in quality of life, while no difference was found in other parameters. When the final evaluations of the two groups were compared, improvement was reported in symptom (p=0,004), occupational satisfaction (p=0,001) and pain (p=0,003) parameters of quality of life. According to these findings, activity management training was found to be effective in the pain parameter, which is the main symptom in FMS. It is thought that the use of this approach in the management of pain is a preferable method, but further studies are needed to examine the results of combination with different treatments in complex conditions such as FMS, as well as the effectiveness of face-to-face application and long-term follow-up.