Purpose: The current study piloted a telehealth, multicomponent intervention for rural Veterans, to increase access to non-pharmacological approaches to managing chronic pain.
Methods: This single arm pilot study examined the feasibility of trialing the Reaching Rural Veterans: Applying Mind-Body Skills for Pain Using a Whole Health Telehealth Intervention (RAMP). RAMP consisted of an individual session followed by 11 facilitated group sessions (90-min each), that included expert-led educational and experiential physical exercise and mind-body skill-building videos. Feasibility was assessed using pre-specified milestones. for recruitment and enrollment (N = 40), satisfaction (75%), fidelity (90%), intervention engagement (75%), and data collection (surveys of pain and health outcomes at 14 weeks, 80%).
Findings: The following milestones were met: 1) 40 rural VA patients with moderate to severe chronic pain were enrolled, 2) 90% of participants were satisfied with the intervention, and 3) facilitators delivered 100% of session activities 100% of the time. The following milestones were nearly met: 4) intervention engagement: 68% of Veterans engaged in at least 7 of 12 sessions, and 5) data collection: 75% survey completion at 14 weeks. Participants reported that the intervention supported their pain self-management capabilities, provided useful self-management opportunities and resources, and enhanced their motivation to self-manage their pain. Participant and other key stakeholders identified important areas for improvement.
Conclusions: Pilot results demonstrated that RAMP is feasible and acceptable to rural Veterans with chronic pain and helped identify optimization strategies to enhance future program engagement.
Keywords: Chronic pain; Non-pharmacological pain management; Rural; Veterans.
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