The Pain App Study: A Novel Shared Decision Making Tool for People With Chronic Pain

Summary

The investigators seek to understand the preferences, goals, and perspectives of patients with chronic pain and their health care providers (HCPs) to create a patient-centered decision support tool. This tool, aimed at patients and HCPs, should improve patient-provider communication and chronic pain management. The investigators' long-term goal is to improve the quality of life of patients with chronic pain. The investigators target adults with chronic unremitting pain and HCPs who manage patients with chronic pain, including primary care providers and pain specialists.

A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) will measure the impact of a new online tool that the investigators developed (Pain-APP) in a representative sample of adults with chronic pain, including approximately 50 patients and 4-15 HCPs. Eligible patients will be enrolled online, and after informed consent and eliciting baseline socio-demographic information, randomized online to either Pain-APP or the control group, which will consist of online educational materials at the ACPA website (https://theacpa.org/Communication-Tools). Patients in both groups will be assessed online before, just after viewing the intervention materials, just after the index clinic visit, and 1 month later. Patient-reported outcomes include patient-provider communication, pain intensity and interference, attitudes towards and use of opioid medication.

Conditions

• Chronic Pain

Interventions

OTHER

Interactive decision support tool

PainApp 1) assesses patient treatment goals (a structured values clarification exercise) and preferences, including decision making and communication preferences; 2) presents structured educational modules tailored to the user's stated goals and preferences; 3) presents educational information addressing identified gaps in care and communication; 4) assesses pain, pain interference, function, and other clinical factors; 5) generates succinct individualized summaries of patient treatment preferences and medical history, tailored to different clinical settings; 6) generates a personalized report for the patient, based on their goals and interests; 7) transmits the clinical summary to the patient and their provider(s), with patient permission.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of New England

  collaborator OTHER

• Pfizer

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Shared Decision Making Resources

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nananda F Col, MD · Shared Decision Making Resources

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-01-11

Primary Completion

2018-06-14

Completion

2018-10-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations