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Background: Spine surgery outcomes are variable. Patients who participate in and take responsibility for their recovery have improved health outcomes. Interventions to increase patient involvement in their care may improve health outcomes after a surgical procedure. We conducted a prospective interventional trial to compare the effectiveness of health behavior change counseling with usual care to improve health outcomes after lumbar spine surgical procedures.Methods: In this study, 122 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis undergoing a decompression surgical procedure from December 2009 through August 2012 were enrolled. Participants were assigned, according to enrollment date, to health behavior change counseling or usual care. Health behavior change counseling is a brief, telephone-based intervention intended to increase rehabilitation engagement through motivational interviewing strategies that elicit and strengthen motivation for change. Health behavior change counseling was designed to identify patients with low patient activation, to maximize postoperative rehabilitation engagement, to decrease pain and disability, and to improve functional recovery. Participants were assessed before the surgical procedure and for 3 years after the surgical procedure for pain intensity (Brief Pain Inventory), disability (Oswestry Disability Index), and physical health (12-Item Short-Form Health Survey, version 2). Differences in changes in health outcomes after the surgical procedure were compared between the health behavior change counseling group and the usual care group.Results: By 12 months, health behavior change counseling participants reported significantly greater reductions in pain intensity (p = 0.008) and disability (p = 0.028) and significantly greater improvement in physical health compared with usual care participants (p = 0.025). These differences were attenuated by 24 and 36 months after the surgical procedure. Early improvements in health outcomes were mediated by improvements in physical therapist-rated engagement and self-reported attendance at physical therapy sessions in the health behavior change counseling group.Conclusions: Health behavior change counseling improved health outcomes during the first 12 months after the surgical procedure through changes in rehabilitation engagement. Wider use of health behavior change counseling may lead to improved outcomes not only after lumbar spine surgery but also in other conditions for which rehabilitation is key to recovery.Level Of Evidence: Therapeutic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The minimum clinically important difference is a clinically relevant threshold of improvement. A substantial clinical benefit is a threshold of change that correlates with clinically important improvement. The Cervical Spine Outcomes Questionnaire is a disease-specific, patient-reported outcomes instrument that was developed to be sensitive to changes associated with surgical treatment for degenerative cervical disc disease. To determine thresholds for change in these domain scores that are important from the patient's perspective, we estimated the minimum clinically important difference and substantial clinical benefit values for this questionnaire's domain scores.Methods: We evaluated 252 patients from the Cervical Spine Research Society Outcomes Study at their six-month follow-up visits after anterior cervical spine decompression and arthrodesis. Using a receiver operating characteristics curve, with the health transition item of the Short Form-36 as an anchor, we determined that the minimum clinically important difference (the value that maximized sensitivity and specificity to differentiate the "somewhat better" and "much better" responses from others) and the substantial clinical benefit (the value that maximized sensitivity and specificity to differentiate the "much better" response from others) for our questionnaire's domain scores. Responses were scaled between 0 and 1 point; higher scores denoted more severe impairment. Patient and clinical characteristics were tested to determine their influence on score changes.Results: The minimum clinically important difference ranged from 0.13 point (for functional disability) to 0.24 point (for arm/shoulder pain). The substantial clinical benefit score ranged from 0.20 point (for functional disability or physical symptoms other than pain) to 0.30 point (for neck or arm/shoulder pain). Age, sex, and duration of current symptoms were not associated with change in our questionnaire's domain scores.Conclusions: A 0.13-point change in the functional disability domain score indicated a clinically important difference in a self-reported outcome after anterior cervical spine surgery. A 0.30-point change in neck pain after surgery indicated a clinically important clinical benefit. This information, coupled with previous reports of the psychometric stability of the Cervical Spine Outcomes Questionnaire, should increase the clinical utility of this patient-reported outcomes instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on educational opportunities of medical students and surgeons offered by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Goal to meet the expectations in academic practice; Commitment to help young members to establish a relationship with the Academy; Formation of a resident liaison council accredited by the orthopedic residency program.