Web-based Support to Manage Arthritis Pain

One of every five adults in the United States (46.4 million people) is affected by arthritis. Increasing the number of days individuals are free of arthritis pain is one of the Healthy People 2010 objectives. Although there are a variety of medical treatments and medications available, self-management is a critical component in helping arthritis sufferers learn how to identify, avoid, and help manage their pain. Unfortunately, clinicians face significant time pressure, leaving little time for desired patient-provider education and collaboration. This is an important omission as tailored advice (e.g., specific exercises to reduce pain) from health providers could enable behavior change and improve outcomes. Therefore, widely accessible and tailored interventions that address motivational issues are needed to facilitate self-management education among arthritis patients. Because of its reach across demographic groups, the Internet is an excellent vehicle for offering a self-management program to arthritis sufferers. The investigators propose to develop an interactive, online pain self-management program for adults who suffer from pain associated with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, Ankylosing spondylitis, and other arthritic conditions (e.g., psoriatic arthritis) using principles from Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1977). This online health intervention, painACTION: Arthritis, will provide clinically reliable information about diagnosis, treatment, and management of arthritis, written for health consumers in a clear and engaging manner to help increase their skills and confidence to use self-management strategies. Moreover, it will be designed to complement and connect to our other SBIR-supported pain online health interventions (chronic back pain, migraine pain, neuropathic pain) to be a more comprehensive resource for those seeking pain management assistance. The most unique aspect of painACTION: Arthritis is that it includes three technological innovations -- a Web 2.0-enabled platform, a Custom Recommendation Engine, and Dynamic Lessons - to help people self manage their arthritis pain. In Phase I the investigators accomplished two important objectives: 1) established the feasibility of painACTION: Arthritis as an intervention and a technical project and 2) generated preliminary plans for the content, design, and technical development of painACTION: Arthritis. In Phase II the investigators will produce the program and test its efficacy.