Social support web-based resources for patients with chronic pain.

The authors performed an electronic search of websites that address psychosocial issues in pain management identified over 5 million sites. A search limited to pychosocial issue sin pain produced nearly 400,000. Nine scientific, professional and consumer-oriented websites were selected for review of social support information and opportunities using criteria focusing on patient information, referrals for counseling services and community-based assistance programs, self-help groups, specific pain syndromes, and readability and interpretability of consumer-oriented content. The internet can empower patients to self-manage their pain and seek out effective social support venues for improving their lives.