Heartache and Backache- An Online Intervention Addressing Emotional and Physical Pain
NCT ID: NCT05513274
Last Updated: 2025-07-16
Study Results
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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COMPLETED
NA
107 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2022-12-15
2024-12-30
Brief Summary
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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.
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Detailed Description
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Participants who are interested in participating will complete a brief online zoom interview to determine eligibility and will be provided with basic information about the study. Once eligibility has been determined, consent form and, baseline measures will be sent out and completed online.
Participants will be emailed confirming they are still interested in participating. Once they reply, they will complete baseline measures (on-line) and then be randomized 1:1 to the pain psychology and affect neuroscience education intervention or the health behavior intervention. For the pain neuroscience education, participants will complete a 15 to 20-minute on-line exercise that inquires about 5 domains: the degree of central sensitization symptoms, catastrophizing , personality factors, stressors that triggered or exacerbated the pain, and adverse childhood experiences. The health behavior control intervention participants will engage in a 15 to 20-minute on-line exercise examining their health behaviors in five domains: exercise, sleep, diet, hygiene, and social connections.
Once they have completed the first intervention participants will be randomly assigned to the written emotional disclosure task or the healthy behavior-writing task. For the written emotional disclosure task participants will be asked to write for 20 minutes about their very deepest thoughts and feelings about the most traumatic experience of their lives. There will be a 10-minute break and when they return participants will be asked to write again for 20 minutes about how you have come to understand what happened and how you have changed because of the event. The healthy behavior writing task will include writing for 20 minutes a letter to a person of their choosing describing healthy behaviors, a 10 minute break and a second 20 minute writing task describing a time when they performed a healthy behaviors.
Follow-up measures will be administered 5 weeks after the intervention. There will be clinical outcomes assessed that reflect changes in pain severity, pain-related interference and pain catastrophizing. Psychological outcomes that reflect changes in symptoms for depression, anxiety, fatigue and sleep. Finally there will be attitudinal outcomes in stigma around chronic pain and patients' attributions about the role of psychological and brain-based factors in pain and self efficacy.
Conditions
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
FACTORIAL
TREATMENT
TRIPLE
Study Groups
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Pain Psychology Neuroscience+ Written Emotional Disclosure
Pain Neuroscience Education exercise followed by Written Emotional Disclosure
Pain Psychology Neuroscience + Written Emotional Disclosure
A 15 to 20-minute exercise which they examine variables in themselves that suggest that their pain is driven by central nervous system processes. Participants will then write for 20 minutes about their very deepest thoughts and feelings about the most traumatic experience of their lives. A 10-minute break followed by writing again for 20 minutes about how they have come to understand what happened and how they have changed because of the event.
Pain Psychology Neuroscience + Healthy Habits Disclosure
Pain Neuroscience Education followed by Healthy Habits writing
Pain Psychology Neuroscience + Healthy Habits Disclosure
This condition is a 15 to 20-minute exercise that patients complete in which they examine variables in themselves that suggest that their pain is driven by central nervous system processes in their brains. Followed by writing for 20 minutes a letter to a person of their choosing describing healthy behaviors, a 10 minute break and then a second 20 minute writing task describing a time when they performed a healthy behavior.
Health Behavior + Written Emotional Disclosure
Health behavior education followed by written emotional disclosure
Health Behavior Control + Written Emotional Disclosure
This 15 to 20-minute exercise that relates to healthy behaviors. Participants are asked to examine various domains of their own health behavior as engaged in over the past 24 hours (e.g., nutrition, sleep, exercise, hygiene, social connections). Participants will then write for 20 minutes about their very deepest thoughts and feelings about the most traumatic experience of their lives. A 10-minute break followed by writing again for 20 minutes about how they have come to understand what happened and how they have changed because of the event.
Health Behavior + Healthy Habits Disclosure
Health behavior intervention followed by healthy habits writing
Health Behavior Control + Healthy Habits Disclosure
This 15 to 20-minute exercise that relates to healthy behaviors. Participants are asked to examine various domains of their own health behavior as engaged in over the past 24 hours (e.g., nutrition, sleep, exercise, hygiene, social connections). Followed by writing for 20 minutes a letter to a person of their choosing describing healthy behaviors, a 10 minute break and then a second 20 minute writing task describing a time when they performed a healthy behavior.
Interventions
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Pain Psychology Neuroscience + Written Emotional Disclosure
A 15 to 20-minute exercise which they examine variables in themselves that suggest that their pain is driven by central nervous system processes. Participants will then write for 20 minutes about their very deepest thoughts and feelings about the most traumatic experience of their lives. A 10-minute break followed by writing again for 20 minutes about how they have come to understand what happened and how they have changed because of the event.
Pain Psychology Neuroscience + Healthy Habits Disclosure
This condition is a 15 to 20-minute exercise that patients complete in which they examine variables in themselves that suggest that their pain is driven by central nervous system processes in their brains. Followed by writing for 20 minutes a letter to a person of their choosing describing healthy behaviors, a 10 minute break and then a second 20 minute writing task describing a time when they performed a healthy behavior.
Health Behavior Control + Written Emotional Disclosure
This 15 to 20-minute exercise that relates to healthy behaviors. Participants are asked to examine various domains of their own health behavior as engaged in over the past 24 hours (e.g., nutrition, sleep, exercise, hygiene, social connections). Participants will then write for 20 minutes about their very deepest thoughts and feelings about the most traumatic experience of their lives. A 10-minute break followed by writing again for 20 minutes about how they have come to understand what happened and how they have changed because of the event.
Health Behavior Control + Healthy Habits Disclosure
This 15 to 20-minute exercise that relates to healthy behaviors. Participants are asked to examine various domains of their own health behavior as engaged in over the past 24 hours (e.g., nutrition, sleep, exercise, hygiene, social connections). Followed by writing for 20 minutes a letter to a person of their choosing describing healthy behaviors, a 10 minute break and then a second 20 minute writing task describing a time when they performed a healthy behavior.
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* 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
Exclusion Criteria
* 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
18 Years
75 Years
ALL
Yes
Sponsors
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The New School for Social Research
OTHER
Wayne State University
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Mark A. Lumley
Distinguished Professor
Principal Investigators
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Mark Lumley, PhD
Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
Wayne State University
Locations
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The New School for Social Research Department of Psychology
New York, New York, United States
Countries
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Other Identifiers
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The New School
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id
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