Pain Self-management Program for Older Adults

The program is delivered through a secure platform administered by the Online Therapy Unit for Service Education and Research at the University of Regina. Using a patient preference randomized control trial (RCT) design, participants (n = 120) will be enrolled in either the online group or workbook group, or to a wait list control group. The content of both programs will be identical and contain 5 core lessons, which participants will be encouraged to work through over an 8-week period. By exploring the efficacy of an online vs. workbook group, the results from this study may serve as a stepping-stone for improved self-management of chronic pain in older adults. A patient preference randomized controlled trial (RCT) was chosen for this study. The goal is to have most participants accept randomization by emphasizing they are equally acceptable, so only those with a very strong preference or no access to Internet aren't randomized. According to the preliminary power analysis, a total of 120 participants will be randomly assigned to be enrolled in the online group or workbook group, or be placed on a twelve-week wait list control, which will serve as a control group to control for the influence of time on symptom change between groups.