Mindfully Attending to Pain Sensations

Participants who experience chronic pain will be randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups, which differ in the content and scheduling of text messages delivered over a period of six days. One third of participants will be assigned to the "active control" group. These participants will receive 2 text messages per day for six days (one at 9am and one at 9pm) asking them to report on the activity they are currently engaged in. One third of participants will be assigned to the "low mindfulness" group. These participants will receive the same text messages as the participants in the active control group, but will also be prompted with the 9pm text to report on pain intensity and unpleasantness at that time. One third of participants will be assigned to the "high mindfulness" group. These participants will also receive two text message prompts about their current activity. Participants in the "high mindfulness" group will also receive questions about current pain intensity and unpleasantness in both the morning and evening. In order to emphasize the variability in pain, participants will receive these text messages on a variable schedule. In addition, they will sent instructions every morning to pay attention to variability in their pain throughout the day and asked to report on how their pain is changing over time as a part of each text message prompt. The researchers will take measurements of pain interference, perceptions of control, and pain experience at three time points (T0=baseline, T1= immediately after the 6 days of text messages, T2= 1 month after T1, and T3= 3 months after T1). All surveys will be collected online via the Qualtrics.com platform.