Pinxsterhuis, Irma, Sandvik, Leiv, Strand, Elin Bolle et al. · Clinical rehabilitation · 2017 · DOI
This study tested whether a group self-management program (eight meetings over four months) could help people with ME/CFS feel better compared to standard care. At six months, the program group reported less fatigue severity and felt more confident in managing their condition, but these improvements didn't last until the one-year follow-up. Overall, the program did not provide lasting benefits compared to usual care alone.
This study evaluates a scalable, low-cost group intervention for ME/CFS—a condition with limited effective treatments. Understanding which self-management approaches do or do not produce sustained benefit is critical for guiding clinical practice and patient care decisions.
This study does not prove that self-management programs are ineffective for all ME/CFS patients; it shows this particular program lacked sustained benefit compared to usual care, but does not rule out benefit for subgroups or identify which program components might be effective. The study also does not establish whether improvements in self-efficacy at six months might provide longer-term value not captured by the primary outcome measures.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Pinxsterhuis, Irma, Sandvik, Leiv, Strand, Elin Bolle, Bautz-Holter, Erik, & Sveen, Unni (2017). Effectiveness of a group-based self-management program for people with chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.. Clinical rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269215515621362
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-pinxsterhuis-2017-effectiveness-group,
author = {Pinxsterhuis, Irma and Sandvik, Leiv and Strand, Elin Bolle and Bautz-Holter, Erik and Sveen, Unni},
title = {Effectiveness of a group-based self-management program for people with chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.},
journal = {Clinical rehabilitation},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1177/0269215515621362},
note = {PubMed: 26672998},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/pinxsterhuis-2017-effectiveness-group},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/pinxsterhuis-2017-effectiveness-group
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