JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Internet-based treatment programs present a solution for providing access to pain management for those unable to access clinic-based multidisciplinary pain programs. Attrition from internet interventions is a common issue. Clinician supported guidance can be an important feature in online interventions however the optimal level of therapist guidance and expertise required to improve adherence remains unclear.

Objective:

To evaluate whether augmenting the existing Reboot Online program with additional telephone support by a clinician, improves program adherence and effectiveness, relative to the online program alone

Methods:

A two-armed, CONSORT-compliant registered randomized controlled trial (RCT), with one-to-one group allocation was conducted. It compared an online multidisciplinary pain management program Reboot Online combined with telephone support (n=44), with Reboot Online alone (n=45) as the control group. Participants were recruited via online social media and existing THISWAYUP networks. The primary outcome for this study was adherence to the Reboot Online program. Adherence was quantified via three metrics; (i) completion of the program (ii) the number of participants who enrolled into the program, (iii) the number of participants who commenced the program. Data on adherence were collected automatically via the THIS WAY UP platform. Secondary measures of clinical effectiveness were also collected.

Results:

Reboot Online combined with telephone support had a positive effect on enrolment and commencement of the program compared to Reboot Online without telephone support. Significantly more participants from the Reboot Online plus telephone support group enrolled (93.2%) into the course compared to the control group (77.8%) (χ2 = 4.23, p = 0.04), Further, more participants from the intervention group commenced the course compared to the control group (90.9% versus 60.0% respectively, χ2 = 11.42, p = 0.001). Of those participants enrolled in the intervention group, 43.2% completed the course (19/44) and of those in the control group 31.1% completed the course (14/45). When considering the subgroup of those who commenced the program, there was no significant difference between the proportions of people who completed all 8 lessons in the intervention (47.5%) versus control groups (51.8%) (χ2 = 1.39, p = 0.24).

Conclusions:

Telephone support improves participants’ registration, program commencement and engagement in early phase of the internet intervention; however, it did not appear to impact on overall course completion or efficacy. Clinical Trial: The trial was prospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12619001076167), and the protocol was followed as per the registry. The study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (2019/ETH08682) of St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, Australia.