MOTIVATE: Moving to Improve Chronic Back Pain and Depression in Older Adults

Investigators will assess the feasibility of a tele-delivered behavioral change intervention among older adults (aged 50 and older) with chronic low back pain and depression. Fifty participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups, behavioral intervention arm (n=25) versus the waitlist control arm (n=25). The active intervention will include eight tele-delivered health coach sessions, three tele-based outcome assessments, and up to two semi-structured interviews within 6 months of completion, post-intervention. Each tele-based outcome assessment is roughly 45-60 minutes and will be conducted by a member of the research team. Each intervention session will be delivered by a trained health coach over a period of 10-20 weeks (up to 5 months total, accounting for additional time between sessions if needed).

The first session will introduce the participant to the health coach and the program, establish rapport, and measure baseline physical activity. The following six sessions address behavioral determinants, followed by a final session designed to be a booster session to the overall program.

An Omron pedometer will be provided to each participant for the assessment of physical activity. The Omron pedometer will be set up by a member of the research team (e.g., stride length, setting date/time) and will be mailed to the participant's home address between sessions one and two. Each participant will receive a courtesy phone call when the pedometer is mailed and will be asked to call the research coordinator when it arrives. The research team will provide technical assistance and instructions to the participant regarding use. The pedometer is intended to be worn on the waist band, daily, with the exception of times when the participant may shower or bathe. The research team will verbally instruct the participant on how to press the mode and memory buttons in order to provide weekly step counts for tracking physical activity. The participants will be prompted by the health coach or research staff to report step counts during subsequent weekly tele-based coaching sessions.

Since the investigators are interested in better understanding feasibility of the intervention as compared to the waitlist control, and how behaviors are sustained over time, the study involves follow-up to 6 months. Investigators will use these follow-up data to better understand differential attrition as well as preliminary formative implementation evaluation. Using purposive sampling, investigators will conduct ~ 10 in-depth semi-structured interviews. Each interview will occur ~six months post-intervention and will include key stakeholders from the following groups: study participants from each arm of the pilot study, the health coach, primary care and mental health providers.

The research staff will select participants identified as higher risk for drop-out, less engaged, or were particularly successful at achieving behavioral change. The purpose of the final interviews is to learn about the barriers and facilitators to successful intervention delivery and participant retention from the perspectives of the enrolled patients, health coach, and providers. Interview topics will borrow from components of the well-established framework, Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARiHS). Semi-structured interview strategy is informed by two Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARiHS) dimensions: context-how the microsystem (UTSW) impacts behavioral change uptake, for example, potential facilitators to intervention implementation; facilitation-identifying specific ways to augment the likelihood of implementation.