Papers of the Week

Although psychological treatments benefit youth with chronic pain, treatment is not accessible in most communities. Digital health interventions offer promise for expanding access and reach to this population. Using a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial design, we evaluated effectiveness and implementation of a digital health delivered psychological intervention for pediatric chronic pain. 143 youth, ages 10-17 with chronic pain and a caregiver were recruited from 8 clinics in the United States. Active intervention included access to the WebMAP Mobile App and the WebMAP parent website to learn pain self-management skills. Effectiveness outcomes included pain intensity, disability, and patient global impression of change (PGIC), while Reach, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance were implementation outcomes. Results showed that youth in both treatment conditions (WebMAP vs Usual Care) had similar changes over time in pain and disability. Youth in the WebMAP condition perceived greater improvement (PGIC) at post-treatment and follow-up (d's = 0.54 and 0.44, p < .05) compared to youth receiving usual care. Use of the digital health intervention was modest and variable; about 30% of youth and parents completed treatment. Greater engagement (number of completed modules) was associated with significantly greater reductions in pain and disability from pre-treatment to follow-up (d's = -0.57 and -0.38, p < .05). Parents, youth, and providers found treatment acceptable; providers had positive attitudes and demonstrated referrals over a maintenance period. Further research is needed to understand how to enhance treatment engagement with digital health interventions and optimize implementation.