Digital Tools for Coping With Chronic Pain

MyStrength, Inc.

Status: Completed

Conditions: Chronic Pain; Opioid Use; Depression; Anxiety

Treatments: Behavioral: myStrength

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03234439

2017/06/13

Details and patient eligibility

About

Chronic pain is becoming increasingly more prevalent worldwide. High rates of co-morbid psychological distress are also commonly found among individuals living with chronic pain. Often requiring a multi-modal treatment approach, a growing body of literature suggests that digital behavioral health interventions and tools may serve as promising complementary options to help individuals cope with the pain.

Full description

The research objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of the myStrength product offerings, namely the chronic pain focus area, on study participants' functional well-being over time. The research questions to be answered include the following:

1. Do study participants who are randomized to the myStrength intervention arm experience change in their self-reported ability to function, outlook on pain, and/or perception of prescription opioids.
2. Do study participants who are randomized to the myStrength intervention arm experience change in terms of their behavioral health, such as anxiety and depression levels, during the study period.

The study team hypothesizes that myStrength study participants will achieve a higher level of functioning and adopt a more positive outlook toward their pain management as compared to the waitlist control group. Self-assessments will be repeated throughout the study period to capture the inflection point of change as well as the sustainability of these changes over time.

Enrollment: 144 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 85 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Study participants must be 18 years of age or older
2. Self-report chronic pain lasting for at least the past 3 months but no more than 9 months (examples include lower back pain, arthritis, chronic headaches, neuropathic pain, knee pain)
3. Must have considered, have a history of, or are currently taking a prescription opioid for chronic pain (examples oxycodone (OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet), morphine (Kadian, Avinza, MS Contin), fentanyl (Duragesic), propoxyphene (Darvon), hydromorphone (Dilaudid)
4. Fluent in English and articulate Access to a laptop or mobile device to access email and the myStrength platform

Exclusion criteria

1. Under the age of 18
2. Chronic pain due to cancer
3. Chronic pain <3 months or > 9 months
4. Prior exposure to the myStrength platform
5. Self-reported history of hospitalization for mental illness or a substance use disorder
6. Receiving government benefits related to a developmental or behavioral health disability

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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144 participants in 2 patient groups

myStrength Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

The myStrength intervention arm will be encouraged to utilize the chronic pain offering consisting of 6 modules. Each module has 5 activities and can take on average 5-15 minutes to complete. Study participants assigned to the myStrength intervention will have one week to complete each module. In addition to completing the required chronic pain modules, study participants in the myStrength intervention arm will have the option to also select other areas of interest and complete corresponding activities at their own pace. myStrength utilization will be recorded and analyzed.

Treatment:

Behavioral: myStrength

Waitlist Control

No Intervention group

Description:

The waitlist control group will gain access to the myStrength platform 60 days following the start of the study.