Advancing Online Psychology Tools for Chronic Pain (ADOPT-CP): Feasibility of a Scalable Digital Psychology Intervention and AI-Powered Support for Patients on the Waitlist for Pain Services
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Not yet recruiting
- Sponsor
- Women's College Hospital
- Enrollment
- 60
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Trial feasibility
Study Overview
Brief Summary
Chronic pain affects more than 20% of Canadians and is associated with significant impacts on physical function, mental health, and quality of life. Despite efforts to improve access to multidisciplinary pain care through centralized referral systems, many patients continue to experience prolonged wait times before receiving treatment.
This study evaluates a self-guided digital psychological intervention designed to support chronic pain self-management during the waiting period for specialized pain care. The intervention was developed through a collaboration between the Transitional Pain Service and ManagingLife and aims to improve access to evidence-based psychological support, enhance self-management skills, and reduce pain-related distress among individuals living with chronic pain.
Detailed Description
The Advancing Online Psychology Tools for Chronic Pain (ADOPT-CP) intervention provides participants with access to the Manage My Pain (MMP) platform, including a self-guided Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based digital psychology program and Solace, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled conversational support tool for chronic pain. Together, these tools are designed to support pain self-management, emotional coping, and engagement in care.
This study will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary clinical effects of the ADOPT-CP intervention among individuals waiting to access multidisciplinary chronic pain services through the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute (TAPMI). The intervention aims to provide accessible psychological support and self-management resources during the waiting period for specialized pain care.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Supportive Care
- Masking
- None
Masking Description
This is an open-label study. Participants and study personnel will not be blinded to study group assignment because of the nature of the intervention and control conditions and the feasibility-focused outcomes of the study.
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to — (Adult, Older Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria
- •Must be deemed to have capacity to provide informed consent;
- •Must sign and date the informed consent form;
- •Must state willingness to comply with all study procedures;
- •Must be at least 18 years of age;
- •Must be referred to TAPMI;
- •Must have either fibromyalgia or chronic pelvic pain
- •Must be on the waitlist at TAPMI;
- •Must have access to a device that can connect to the Internet with access to email.
Exclusion Criteria
- •Currently engaged in psychotherapy or engaged in psychotherapy within the last month at the time of enrolment;
- •Unable to read, understand, or communicate in English sufficiently to provide informed consent and complete the study procedures and questionnaires;
- •Has active serious mental illness or psychiatric instability that, in the opinion of the research team, may impair the ability to safely participate in the study or to provide informed consent (e.g., active psychosis, active mania);
- •Has a visual, auditory, or other functional impairment that would prevent independent access to and use of the digital intervention and study procedures on an internet-enabled device.
Arms & Interventions
Intervention Group
The ADOPT-CP intervention includes the Manage My Pain (MMP) app with integrated tools: a customizable pain tracker for monitoring symptoms and generating reports, the Pain Guide with educational content on pain management, a self-guided Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based psychology program, and Solace, an AI-driven conversational agent designed to provide structured, evidence-based psychological support for chronic pain self-management.
Intervention: Digital psychology intervention (ADOPT-CP) (Other)
Control Group
The control group will receive treatment as usual plus weekly emailed resources. These resources include materials introduced during the TAPMI orientation session, including Power Over Pain and Progress Over Pain.
Intervention: Reminder Emails (Other)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Trial feasibility
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Measured according to the CONSORT criteria and include: eligibility rate, recruitment rate, retention rate, measure completion, absence of or minor adverse events.
Engagement with the digital ADOPT-CP intervention
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Measured via MMP app analytics (usage rates, completion of psychology program, etc.)
Acceptability and Appropriateness of the ADOPT-CP intervention
Time Frame: 10 weeks
The Treatment Evaluation Inventory-Short Form (TEI-SF) is a self-report measure assessing the acceptability and perceived appropriateness of a treatment or intervention, with higher scores indicating greater treatment acceptability.
Acceptability and Adherence of the ADOPT-CP intervention
Time Frame: 10 weeks
The Treatment Acceptability/Adherence Scale (TAAS) is a self-report measure assessing perceived acceptability of an intervention and anticipated or actual adherence, with higher scores indicating greater acceptability and adherence.
Experience using the ADOPT-CP intervention
Time Frame: 14 weeks
a semi-structured interview guide will be used to explore participant experiences, barriers and facilitators to use, acceptability, engagement, and opportunities to refine the digital intervention prior to a larger trial.
Secondary Outcomes
- Quality of Life and Pain Interference(10 weeks)
- Pain Acceptance(10 weeks)
- Psychological Flexibility(10 weeks)
- Kinesiophobia(10 weeks)
- Pain Resiliency(10 weeks)