App-Delivered Self-Management Intervention Trial selfBACK for People With Low Back Pain: Protocol for Implementation...

Area of Science:

• Digital Health Interventions
• Implementation Science
• Low Back Pain Management

Background:

• Implementation and process evaluations are crucial for understanding intervention effectiveness across diverse settings.
• The selfBACK project investigates a data-driven decision support system for low back pain self-management.
• The system delivers personalized weekly plans via a smartphone app using case-based reasoning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the protocol for an embedded implementation and process evaluation of the selfBACK system.
• To assess the selfBACK intervention in a multicenter randomized controlled trial in Denmark and Norway.
• To compare the selfBACK system plus usual care against usual care alone for low back pain.

Main Methods:

• A convergent mixed-methods approach following the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) framework.
• Quantitative data collection through questionnaires and app usage analytics.
• Qualitative data collection via semistructured interviews informed by normalization process theory.

Main Results:

• The randomized controlled trial opened for recruitment in February 2019.
• Data collection for the implementation and process evaluation is scheduled from March 2019 to October 2020.
• Results from the process evaluation are anticipated between 2021 and 2022.

Conclusions:

• The study will elucidate how to enhance low back pain self-management using digital health interventions.
• Findings will inform the expansion of the selfBACK system's components for broader applications.
• Knowledge gained will be applicable to other conditions where self-management is key for prevention or treatment.