Objectives: We intended to assess changes in pain-related outcomes among rural adults who completed 6-week self-management programs offered remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: We offered the Chronic Pain Self-Management Program and Chronic Disease Self-Management Program between May 2020 and December 2021. Delivery mode options included 2½-hour weekly videoconference, mailed toolkit plus 1-hour weekly conference call, and mailed toolkit alone. We conducted pre- and post-workshop surveys including questions on patient activation, self-efficacy, depression and pain disability. We used paired t-tests to compare pre-post differences in outcomes among participants completing 4 or more sessions.
Results: Among 218 adults reporting chronic pain, mean age was 57; 83.6% were female; and 49.5% participated via videoconference, 23.4% by phone and 27.1% via mailed toolkit alone. Completion rates were higher among phone (88.2%) versus videoconference (60.2%) workshop participants. Among completers, patient activation (mean change = 3.61, p = 0.01) and self-efficacy (mean change = 3.72, p < 0.0001) increased while depression scores (mean change = -1.03, p = 0.01), pain disability (mean change = -0.93, p = 0.003) and pain symptoms (mean change = -0.61, p = 0.001) decreased over the 6-week period.
Discussion: Self-management programs offered remotely during the pandemic were successful in improving patient activation, self-efficacy, depression, pain disability, and pain symptoms among rural adults experiencing chronic pain.
Keywords: chronic pain; pain disability; rural health; self-efficacy; self-management.