Managing Chronic Pain Through Self-Help

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a web-based ACT intervention program with minimal therapeutic contact, compared to an ACT-based bibliotherapy and a pain education program (active control group) among adults with chronic pain. Participants were randomly assigned to each group. We hypothesized that: 1. both ACT interventions would lead to significant reductions in pain-related disability (primary variable), greater than the control group (education), and that the web-based program would lead to greater reductions in disability than the bibliotherapy group; 2. both ACT interventions would lead to significant improvements in quality of life (secondary variable), greater than the control group (education), and that the web-based program would lead to greater improvements in quality of life than the bibliotherapy group; 3. both ACT interventions would lead to significant reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms (secondary variables), greater than the control group (education), and that the web-based program would lead to greater reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms than the bibliotherapy group; 4. Improvements on primary (pain-related disability) and secondary variables (quality of life, anxiety/depressive symptoms) for the ACT groups will be maintained at 3 and 6 months and will remain superior to the control group (education); 5. Participants from both ACT groups would have a positive impressions of change following the intervention (as measured by the PGIC scale). * Some of the questionnaires described in the following section were administered and will be subject to subsequent analyses examining patient trajectories of change and profiles of patients who respond well or not to these treatment modalities.