Heartache and Backache- An Online Intervention Addressing Emotional and Physical Pain

Description

This study is designed to determine if a brief educational program and a written emotional disclosure task can improve chronic back/neck pain-related outcomes and change pain beliefs and other processes in individuals with chronic back pain. Individuals will be randomly assigned to an experimental condition (pain and affect neuroscience education) or a control condition (general health activities questionnaire), and then subsequently randomized to a second experimental condition (written emotional disclosure) or a control condition (writing about healthy habits). Analyses will examine the main and interactive effects of the pain and affect neuroscience education and written emotional disclosure on improved pain-related outcomes at 1-month follow-up. Participants in both the experimental conditions are expected to show more improvement on pain severity, pain interference, psychological distress and psychological attitudes toward pain at follow-up, relative to participants in the control groups.

Conditions

Chronic Pain (Back / Neck)

Study Overview

Study Details

Study overview

This study is designed to determine if a brief educational program and a written emotional disclosure task can improve chronic back/neck pain-related outcomes and change pain beliefs and other processes in individuals with chronic back pain. Individuals will be randomly assigned to an experimental condition (pain and affect neuroscience education) or a control condition (general health activities questionnaire), and then subsequently randomized to a second experimental condition (written emotional disclosure) or a control condition (writing about healthy habits). Analyses will examine the main and interactive effects of the pain and affect neuroscience education and written emotional disclosure on improved pain-related outcomes at 1-month follow-up. Participants in both the experimental conditions are expected to show more improvement on pain severity, pain interference, psychological distress and psychological attitudes toward pain at follow-up, relative to participants in the control groups.

Randomized Clinical Trial of Pain Psychology/Neuroscience and Written Disclosure for Chronic Pain

Heartache and Backache- An Online Intervention Addressing Emotional and Physical Pain

Condition
Chronic Pain (Back / Neck)
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

New York

The New School for Social Research Department of Psychology, New York, New York, United States, 48202

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * English speaking
  • * Chronic musculoskeletal back or neck pain for greater than 1 year as primary symptom complaint
  • * Participants living in western countries USA, UK and Australia
  • * Have access to a computer or smartphone
  • * Presence of serious disease or impairment (cancer, systemic infection, serious vision impairment)
  • * Clear evidence of significant structural damage likely causing their pain (eg, vertebral compression fracture);
  • * Being considered for interventional spine procedures (eg, steroidal injections) or surgery;
  • * Leg or arm pain more severe than back or neck pain
  • * Rheumatoid arthritis
  • * Fibromyalgia
  • * Active psychosis

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to 75 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Collaborators and Investigators

Wayne State University,

Mark Lumley, PhD, STUDY_DIRECTOR, Wayne State University

Study Record Dates

2025-06-30