Abstract
Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the feasibility of providing an eHealth intervention for health-related quality of life (HRQOL) to facilitate patient self-management. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted from 2019–2020 within the Pain Registry for Epidemiological, Clinical, and Interventional Studies and Innovation. Eligible patients included those with chronic low back pain and a SPADE (sleep disturbance, pain interference with activities, anxiety, depression, and low energy/fatigue) cluster score ≥ 55 based on the relevant scales from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System instrument with 29 items (PROMIS-29). Patients were randomized to the eHealth treatment group, which received a tailored HRQOL report and interpretation guide, or to a wait-list control group. The primary outcome was change in the SPADE cluster score, including its five component scales, over 3 months. Secondary outcomes were changes in low back pain intensity and back-related disability. Treatment effects were measured using the standardized mean difference (SMD) in change scores between groups. The eHealth intervention was also assessed by a survey of the experimental treatment group 1 month following randomization. Results: A total of 102 patients were randomized, including 52 in the eHealth treatment group and 50 in the wait-list control group, and 100 (98%) completed the trial. A majority of patients agreed that the HRQOL report was easy to understand (86%), provided new information (79%), and took actions to read or learn more about self-management approaches to improve their HRQOL (77%). Although the eHealth intervention met the criteria for a small treatment effect in improving the overall SPADE cluster score (SMD = 0.24; p= 0.23) and anxiety (SMD = 0.24; p = 0.23), and for a small-to-medium treatment effect in improving depression (SMD = 0.37; p = 0.06) and back-related disability (SMD = 0.36; p = 0.07), none of these results achieved statistical significance because of limited sample size. Conclusion: Given the feasibility of rapid online deployment, low cost, and low risk of adverse events, this eHealth intervention for HRQOL may be useful for patients with chronic pain during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
Many discretionary health care services were curtailed throughout the United States in March 2020 because of the national emergency attributable to the declaration by the World Health Organization of the pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the novel virus known as SARS-CoV-2 [1].the pandemic hastened the development and assessment of remotely supported medicalHealthcare 2020, 8, 381; doi:10.3390/healthcare8040381 www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcareHealthcare 2020, 8, 381 services for a variety of non-urgent chronic conditions
Given the feasibility of rapid online deployment, low cost, and low risk of adverse events, this eHealth intervention for health-related quality of life (HRQOL) may be useful for patients with chronic pain during the COVID-19 pandemic
These findings suggest that the eHealth intervention targeted
Summary
Many discretionary health care services were curtailed throughout the United States in March 2020 because of the national emergency attributable to the declaration by the World Health Organization of the pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the novel virus known as SARS-CoV-2 [1].the pandemic hastened the development and assessment of remotely supported medicalHealthcare 2020, 8, 381; doi:10.3390/healthcare8040381 www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcareHealthcare 2020, 8, 381 services for a variety of non-urgent chronic conditions. Many discretionary health care services were curtailed throughout the United States in March 2020 because of the national emergency attributable to the declaration by the World Health Organization of the pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the novel virus known as SARS-CoV-2 [1]. Patients with chronic pain represent a large segment of the population at high risk of adverse health outcomes if they are unable to access appropriate medical management during the pandemic. A variety of remotely supported pain management approaches under the umbrella of telehealth have been considered for deployment during the COVID-19 pandemic, including eHealth, mHealth, virtual reality, augmented reality, remote treatment, and digital therapeutics [3].
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