Engagement in Digital Self-management Interventions for Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Digital health interventions
• Pain management
• Behavioral science

Background:

• Digital interventions offer scalable, non-pharmacological chronic pain treatment.
• Low engagement remains a significant barrier to the efficacy of digital self-management tools.
• Standardized measurement of engagement is crucial for evaluating and improving these interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review how engagement is measured and reported in digital self-management interventions for chronic pain.
• To identify gaps in the current reporting of engagement data.
• To propose guidelines for consistent data collection and reporting.

Main Methods:

• A pre-registered systematic review was conducted.
• Boolean search terms identified digital chronic pain self-management interventions without clinician support.
• 43 studies met inclusion criteria, with data extracted from 41 unique datasets (4205 participants).

Main Results:

• Approximately 10% of studies failed to report any engagement data.
• Most studies reported only mean system usage metrics.
• Few studies examined self-reported skill use or demographic associations with engagement.

Conclusions:

• Significant gaps exist in the reporting of engagement data for digital chronic pain interventions.
• Standardized guidelines for collecting and reporting engagement are needed.
• Consistent reporting will enhance the evaluation, efficacy, and improvement of digital pain management solutions.