Self-Management Demonstrated in Migraine Patients

Despite their demonstrated effectiveness, behavioral interventions are infrequently used in the management of migraine headaches.

To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a webbased intervention designed to improve self-management of migraine symptoms and reduce psychological distress for patients, researchers conducted a randomized, controlled study. Their results were published in the February 2012 edition of Headache.

In the study, patients were randomized in 2 parallel arms; 1 received the web-based intervention and the other did not. The results showed that participants in the intervention group demonstrated improvement in the following areas: decreased stress and depression, increased headache self-efficacy in performing management activities to improve migraine outcome, increased use of relaxation to decrease symptoms, and increased use of social support.

This study suggests that behavioral interventions that improve self-efficacy of the patient can be useful for augmenting pain management of migraine headaches.

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