User Engagement and Clinical Impact of the Manage My Pain App in Patients With Chronic Pain: A Real-World, Multi-site Trial

Abstract

Background Chronic pain imposes a large burden on individuals and society. A patient-centric digital chronic pain management app called Manage My Pain (MMP) can be used to enhance communication between providers and patients and promote self-management. Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the real-world engagement of patients in urban and rural settings in Ontario, Canada with the MMP app alongside their standard of care and assess the impact of its usage on clinical outcomes of pain and related mental health. Methods A total of 246 participants with chronic pain at a rural and 2 urban pain clinics were recruited into this prospective, open-label, exploratory study that compared the use of MMP, a digital health app for pain that incorporates validated questionnaires and provides patients with summarized reports of their progress in combination with standard care (app group), against data entered on paper-based questionnaires (nonapp group). Participants completed validated questionnaires on anxiety, depression, pain catastrophizing, satisfaction, and daily opioid consumption up to 4.5 months after the initial visit (short-term follow-up) and between 4.5 and 7 months after the initial visit (long-term follow-up). Engagement and clinical outcomes were compared between participants in the two groups. Results A total of 73.6% (181/246) of the participants agreed to use the app, with 63.4% (111/175) of them using it for at least one month. Individuals who used the app rated lower anxiety (reduction in Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item questionnaire score by 2.10 points, 95% CI –3.96 to –0.24) at short-term follow-up and had a greater reduction in pain catastrophizing (reduction in Pain Catastrophizing Scale score by 5.23 points, 95% CI –9.55 to –0.91) at long-term follow-up relative to patients with pain who did not engage with the MMP app. Conclusions The use of MMP by patients with chronic pain is associated with engagement and improvements in self-reported anxiety and pain catastrophizing. Further research is required to understand factors that impact continued engagement and clinical outcomes in patients with chronic pain. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04762329; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04762329

Development of an integrated solution for patients with neurostimulator for chronic pain in times of COVID-19: A mobile application with a support center

“…Over the last few years, a large number of pain-related mobile applications and digital solutions have appeared for purposes such as postoperative follow-up, self-management of pain or to control chronic pain directly 8 , 9 , 10 . However, many of them are not sufficient or did not meet expectations.…”

Differences in Palliative Care Delivery Among Adults With Cancer and With Terminal Noncancer Illness in Their Last Year of Life

“…While the use of technology in chronic pain management interventions has increased in recent years, the literature is still limited, heterogenous, and provides limited evidence on the efficacy of eHealth/digital interventions, let alone which specific modalities are most effective. [4][5][6][7][8][9] This study adds to the literature as a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of a personcentered intervention for individuals with CWP delivered with digital eHealth support compared with standard telephone follow-up. Results showed no significant difference in the primary outcome of pain intensity and nearly all secondary outcomes between the intervention group (supported by the digital platform) and the active control group (supported by a follow-up phone call).…”

User Engagement and Assessment of Treatment Effectiveness in Patients Using a Novel Digital mHealth App During Spinal Cord Stimulation Screening Trials

“…These devices can also promote improved self-monitoring of the multidimensional experience of chronic pain, and some concurrently allow health care providers enhanced connectivity to real time outcomes reported by those under their care [ 4 - 6 ]. The implementation and use of new digital methodologies in the context of health care is underpinned by what is now referred to as ecological momentary assessment (EMA), an approach constituted by the frequent sampling of study subjects’ behavior, outcomes, and experiences in real time within the real-world environments in which they live and participate [ 7 , 8 ]. EMA, as a technique that relies on the repeated collection of data pertaining to the health-related condition of the patient, is therefore thought to reduce recall bias and enable improved assessment of the experience of patients with chronic pain.…”