A virtual practitioner pain communication coach intervention pilot

Abstract

The study purpose was to pilot test a pain communication coaching intervention for the effect on 30 community dwelling older adults' communication of their osteoarthritis pain. The pain communication intervention incorporated interpretability and discourse management strategies from Communication Accommodation Theory. A randomized posttest-only double blind design was used to test the effect of a computer generated virtual practitioner pain communication coach, a video displayed pain communication coach, and no coach. Baseline pain intensity and pain interference with activities were measured using the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form. Older adults watched a video of a practitioner describing important osteoarthritis pain information followed by either a virtual practitioner coach, a video displayed coach, or no coach. Participants were next asked, via a videotaped health care practitioner, to orally describe their pain as if speaking to their own practitioner. The amount of important distinctive pain information described by the older adults was audio-taped, transcribed, content analyzed, and summed using a priori criteria from the APS osteoarthritis pain management guidelines. Older adults described M = 6.4 (SD = 3.29), M = 3.0 (SD = 2.08), and M = 5.0 (SD = 2.37) items of important pain information as a result of the virtual coach, video coach, and no coach conditions, respectively, F(2,25) = 2.06, p = .15, eta2 = .02. Older adults who practiced talking with the virtual coach described more than one additional item of important pain information. The clinically significant group difference and small effect size support the need to test the intervention in a randomized clinical trial. The virtual coaching and education intervention could enable older adults to communicate their pain management needs more effectively to their practitioners. (Supported by funds from the University of Connecticut School of Nursing, McDonald Family Trust, and Sigma Theta Tau, Mu Chapter.)