Reaching rural veterans: Applying mind-body skills for pain using a whole health telehealth intervention: The RAMP...

The current study piloted a telehealth, multicomponent intervention for rural Veterans, to increase access to non-pharmacological approaches to managing chronic pain.

This single arm pilot study examined the feasibility of trialing the Reaching Rural Veterans: Applying Mind-Body Skills for Pain Using a Whole Health Telehealth Intervention (RAMP). RAMP consisted of an individual session followed by 11 facilitated group sessions (90-min each), that included expert-led educational and experiential physical exercise and mind-body skill-building videos. Feasibility was assessed using pre-specified milestones. for recruitment and enrollment (N = 40), satisfaction (75%), fidelity (90%), intervention engagement (75%), and data collection (surveys of pain and health outcomes at 14 weeks, 80%).

The following milestones were met: 1) 40 rural VA patients with moderate to severe chronic pain were enrolled, 2) 90% of participants were satisfied with the intervention, and 3) facilitators delivered 100% of session activities 100% of the time. The following milestones were nearly met: 4) intervention engagement: 68% of Veterans engaged in at least 7 of 12 sessions, and 5) data collection: 75% survey completion at 14 weeks. Participants reported that the intervention supported their pain self-management capabilities, provided useful self-management opportunities and resources, and enhanced their motivation to self-manage their pain. Participant and other key stakeholders identified important areas for improvement.

Pilot results demonstrated that RAMP is feasible and acceptable to rural Veterans with chronic pain and helped identify optimization strategies to enhance future program engagement.