Mindfulness-Based Interventions Via Telehealth Beneficial for Chronic Pain

TUESDAY, Aug. 20, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- For veterans with chronic pain, scalable, telehealth mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are beneficial for improving pain-related function compared with usual care, according to a study published online Aug. 19 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Diana J. Burgess, Ph.D., from the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial of veterans with moderate-to-severe chronic pain to examine group and self-paced, scalable, telehealth MBIs. The two eight-week telehealth MBIs (group MBI and self-paced MBI) were compared to usual care. Pain-related function was the primary outcome, measured using the Brief Pain Inventory interference scale at 10 weeks, six months, and one year.

Overall, 694 (85.6 percent) of the 811 veterans who were randomly assigned completed the trial. The researchers found that pain interference scores, averaged across all three time points, were significantly lower for both MBIs versus usual care (group MBI versus control: −0.4; self-paced versus control: −0.7). Significantly better scores were seen in terms of pain intensity, patient global impression of change, physical function, fatigue, sleep disturbance, social roles and activities, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder in both MBI arms. There were no significant differences between the group MBI and self-paced MBI arms. The probability of 30 percent improvement from baseline was greater for group MBI versus control at 10 weeks and six months and for self-paced MBI versus control at all time points.

"Two relatively low-resource, scalable MBIs (offered in group or self-paced formats), improved pain-related function and other biopsychosocial outcomes over one year compared to usual care among veterans with chronic pain and a high level of psychiatric comorbidities," the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Dharma Ground.

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