The purpose of this research study is to see if a new computerized stress reduction program, called Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH) stress reduction intervention, can be used to teach people who have sickle cell disease (SCD) how to track their stress and pain daily and use guided audio-visual relaxation exercises to help them reduce their stress and pain. To obtain preliminary data for a larger randomized controlled trial, we propose to recruit 30 adult outpatients with SCD.
The investigators will stratify patients on worst pain intensity (\<=5 and \>5) and randomly assign 15 adults to Attention Control (Daily stress/pain tracking on Days 1-6) and 15 adults to Experimental (PUSH Prayer Fellowship on Day 1 and daily stress/pain tracking and PUSH intervention on Days 2-6) groups.
Immediate effects on pain, stress, and relaxation responses after the PUSH Prayer Fellowship will be examined. Patients will continue the trial for additional 6 days, with self-management on Days 2-6 and posttest on Day 7 while hospitalized to test short-term (7 days) effects of PUSH on outcomes (pain, stress, sleep quality, and opioid use).
During Days 2-6, the experimental group will participate in an audio/visual Zoom recorded prayer session that will be conducted specifically for each patient by the interventionist. Following the prayer session, the link to the recorded prayer is uploaded to the PAINReportIt program. Patients will access the recorded prayer session on Days 2-6. These patients will listen to the recorded PUSH prayer session at stress onset and as often as they desire. We will investigate mechanisms by which PUSH produces its effects in adult outpatients with SCD.
