Group-format pain reprocessing therapy in veterans with chronic back/neck pain: A pilot study with mixed methods...

Area of Science:

• Pain Management
• Telehealth Interventions
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is effective for chronic back pain when delivered individually.
• Scalability challenges exist for in-person PRT.
• Group-format telehealth PRT was developed to address these limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and acceptability of group-format telehealth PRT for Veterans with chronic back/neck pain (CBNP).
• To evaluate the preliminary clinical efficacy of this intervention.
• To refine the treatment protocol based on participant feedback.

Main Methods:

• An uncontrolled pilot trial involving four cohorts of Veterans with CBNP (N=46).
• Intervention: 8 weekly sessions of group-format telehealth PRT.
• Outcomes: Feasibility (attendance, retention), acceptability (focus groups, Global Impression of Change), and clinical change (PEG scores).

Main Results:

• 73.9% retention rate; 76% attended 7-8 sessions.
• Veterans found the treatment acceptable, with most reporting feeling the same or better.
• A significant pain reduction was observed, particularly in later cohorts receiving the refined protocol (-1.46 at 2-month follow-up).

Conclusions:

• Group-format telehealth PRT is a feasible and acceptable treatment for Veterans with CBNP.
• The refined treatment protocol demonstrated potential clinical efficacy.
• This scalable modality offers a promising avenue for managing chronic pain in this population.