Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 1, 2026
Author Spotlight: Methodologies and Advancements of Chronic Pain Management Research
Published on: January 5, 2024
Effectiveness of integrative medicine group visits in chronic pain and depressive symptoms: A randomized controlled
Paula Gardiner1, Man Luo2, Salvatore D'Amico2
1Department of Family Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Background:
Current treatment options for chronic pain and depression are largely medication-based, which may cause adverse side effects. Integrative Medical Group Visits (IMGV) combines mindfulness techniques, evidence based integrative medicine, and medical group visits, and is a promising adjunct to medications, especially for diverse underserved patients who have limited access to non-pharmacological therapies.
Objective:
Determine the effectiveness of IMGV compared to a Primary Care Provider (PCP) visit in patients with chronic pain and depression.
Design:
9-week single-blind randomized control trial with a 12-week maintenance phase (intervention-medical groups; control-primary care provider visit).
Setting:
Academic tertiary safety-net hospital and 2 affiliated federally-qualified community health centers.
Participants:
159 predominantly low income racially diverse adults with nonspecific chronic pain and depressive symptoms.
Interventions:
IMGV intervention- 9 weekly 2.5 hour in person IMGV sessions, 12 weeks on-line platform access followed by a final IMGV at 21 weeks.
Measurements:
Data collected at baseline, 9, and 21 weeks included primary outcomes depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire 9), pain (Brief Pain Inventory). Secondary outcomes included pain medication use and utilization.
Results:
There were no differences in pain or depression at any time point. At 9 weeks, the IMGV group had fewer emergency department visits (RR 0.32, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.83) compared to controls. At 21 weeks, the IMGV group reported reduction in pain medication use (Odds Ratio: 0.42, CI: 0.18-0.98) compared to controls.
Limitations:
Absence of treatment assignment concealment for patients and disproportionate group attendance in IMGV.
Conclusion:
Results demonstrate that low-income racially diverse patients will attend medical group visits that focus on non-pharmacological techniques, however, in the attention to treat analysis there was no difference in average pain levels between the intervention and the control group.
Trial Registration:
clinicaltrials.gov NCT02262377.
