Positive Psychology for Chronic Pain Self-management

University of Michigan51 enrolled

Overview

Learning chronic pain self-management skills can help patients improve daily functioning and quality of life, while avoiding risks associated with opioids and other pharmacological treatments. Community health workers (CHWs) may help make chronic pain self-management interventions more accessible to older adults living in underserved communities. The goal of this study is to conduct a randomized pilot and feasibility trial of a positive psychology-based chronic pain self-management intervention delivered by CHWs, in conjunction with mobile health tools, in a sample of 50 older adults recruited from community sites in Detroit, Michigan. This study will involve the use of mixed quantitative and qualitative methods to assess participant engagement and satisfaction, and change in pain-related outcomes.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Chronic Pain

Interventions

Individuals in the intervention group will meet with a community health worker at an in-person or virtual study orientation session. At this session, they will be introduced to the program, learn how to use the online modules and any associated materials, and choose a day and time for future weekly telephone sessions. Participants will also be given a wearable physical activity tracker at the orientation session to use throughout the course of the program. They can choose to report daily step counts either by automatically syncing to an app or by manual reporting via text message. The program will be delivered over 6 weeks. Each week participants will complete a web-based module and have one telephone session with the community health worker to discuss that module and to set a related goal. Participants will also set weekly goals related to walking, which will be informed and tracked by daily step-counts from the physical activity tracker.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 60 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * English-proficient * Ambulatory with or without assistive device * Community-living * Have a cell or landline phone * Have Internet access (home or elsewhere); * Self-reported chronic musculoskeletal pain (pain in muscles or joints for \> 3 months); \>4 (0-10 scale) average pain level over last week; \>1 day/previous 30 when pain made it difficult to do usual activities. Exclusion Criteria: * Serious acute illness or hospitalization in last month * Planned surgery in next three months * Severe cognitive impairment or other severe physical or psychiatric disorder judged by study team to pose significant barrier to deriving program benefit

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in Pain Interference

The Pain Interference 6-item subscale of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)-43 Adult Profile. Items ask how much pain in the last 7 days has interfered with daily activities such as household chores and social activities (1=not at all to 5=very much); raw total scale scores range from 6 (low interference) to 30 (high interference). When converted to T-scores (normed such that a score of 50 is the population mean and 10 T-score points=1 standard deviation), the possible range is 42 to 76, with a higher score representing worse outcome.