Mindfulness-based interventions delivered via telehealth in a scalable format can improve pain and overall well-being among veterans with chronic pain, according to new research published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.
In a randomized clinical trial, researchers aimed to test the effectiveness of two eight-week telehealth mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) designed to be scalable and widely implemented in healthcare systems. MBIs help people pay attention non-judgmentally in the present moment and often involve practices like meditation, breathing exercises or gentle movement. …
Between November 2020 and May 2022, 811 veterans with moderate to severe chronic pain participated in the Learning to Apply Mindfulness to Pain (LAMP) study at three VA facilities. Outcomes were assessed at the outset, 10 weeks, six months and one year.
Results
Key findings from the study include:
- Pain-related function improved significantly for patients in the group and self-paced MBIs.
- There were significant improvements in pain intensity, physical functioning, fatigue, sleep disturbance, social functioning, depression and PTSD among patients in the group and self-paced MBIs over 12 months, compared to usual care.
- The group and self-paced MBIs did not significantly differ from each other.
The results of this study suggest low-resource, telehealth-based MBIs could help accelerate and improve the implementation of non-medication pain treatment in VA healthcare and beyond.