The Facing Pain Study

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

119 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2019-09-27

Study Completion Date

2020-04-13

Brief Summary

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This randomized trial will create and compare two private Facebook conditions for patients with chronic pain. The control condition will be comprised of groups of patients who communicate without much clinician / moderator input, and the experimental condition will have a clinician moderating and teaching patients several techniques designed to facilitate social disclosure, validation, and emotional engagement with avoided activities.

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Detailed Description

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This study will investigate the effectiveness of a private Facebook group for individuals in chronic pain. Currently, more than 100,000 individuals with chronic pain (ICPs) participate in Facebook groups, seeking support from others in similar situations. There are currently some online self-management programs for ICPs; however, most lack a peer support aspect, as they are individualized, self-directed, and focus on instructing patients in how to manage their pain. The goals of the proposed online pain support group are: 1) to provide peer-to-peer social support for individuals with chronic pain; and 2) to disseminate psychosocial pain management techniques using a social media platform. Screened participants will be assigned to one of two conditions: a Facebook group similar to the groups that are occurring naturally (control condition) or an enhanced Facebook group that is moderated by clinicians and offers psychosocial pain management techniques (experimental condition). Both conditions involve peer-to-peer healthcare and support, but the experimental group additionally includes components such as psychoeducation about pain neuroscience, emotional validation training, guided emotional disclosure, and activities to overcome emotional and behavioral avoidance. Findings from this study will offer important information about the impact of Facebook support groups on pain outcomes, and test whether psychosocial pain interventions can be disseminated using a social media platform.

Conditions

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Chronic Pain

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Interested adults will be screened, and eligible participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a Facebook group for individuals in pain similar to the groups that are occurring naturally (control condition) or an enhanced Facebook group for individuals in pain that is moderated by clinicians and offers psychosocial pain intervention techniques (experimental condition).

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Enhanced Facebook Condition

The enhanced Facebook group will be moderated by clinicians and offer psychosocial pain management techniques.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Enhanced Facebook Condition

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The intervention (enhanced Facebook condition) will consist of several training components that were selected based on pain research and platform affordances. The first component will be psychoeducation on pain neurobiology. Emotional validation training will follow. The third component will consist of facilitating patients' emotional disclosure about their pain journeys and lives. The fourth and final intervention component will include prompts to engage participants in activities that they have been avoiding because of their pain.

Control Facebook Condition

In the control condition, there will be no outside intervention; rather, the investigators will instruct participants to offer mutual support for the duration of the group and will not comment further.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Control Facebook Condition

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The control condition will instruct participants to offer mutual support and will not offer psychosocial intervention.

Interventions

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Enhanced Facebook Condition

The intervention (enhanced Facebook condition) will consist of several training components that were selected based on pain research and platform affordances. The first component will be psychoeducation on pain neurobiology. Emotional validation training will follow. The third component will consist of facilitating patients' emotional disclosure about their pain journeys and lives. The fourth and final intervention component will include prompts to engage participants in activities that they have been avoiding because of their pain.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Control Facebook Condition

The control condition will instruct participants to offer mutual support and will not offer psychosocial intervention.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Must have chronic pain (i.e., pain that persists for greater than 3 months)
* Must be fluent at reading and writing in English
* Must have an active Facebook account and check Facebook at least 3 times a week