Internet Intervention for Adolescents With Chronic Pain

An estimated 15% to 30% of otherwise healthy children and adolescents suffer from recurrent
or chronic pain such as headache, abdominal pain, and musculoskeletal pain. Chronic pain has
a significant impact on children's mood, daily functioning, and overall quality of life.
Effective behavioral interventions have been developed to increase positive coping behaviors.
However, most children do not have access to these interventions due to a variety of barriers
such as distance from pediatric pain treatment centers. We have developed an online
behavioral intervention called Web-based Management of Adolescent Pain (Web-MAP), and our
preliminary findings indicated that children in families that received this intervention
experienced significant improvements in their pain level and daily functioning compared to
children who did not receive the intervention (Palermo et al., 2009). The purpose of this
study is to extend these findings by: 1) recruiting families from other medical centers, 2)
determining whether the benefits of online behavioral intervention are maintained 6- and
12-months after the intervention has been completed, 3) evaluating additional outcomes such
as parent responses to pain and child sleep quality, anxiety, depression, and health service
use, 4) comparing results from online behavioral intervention to online patient education.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Literate in English

- Age 11-17 years

- Pain present for at least 3 months duration

- Pain occurs at least 1 time per week and interferes with daily functioning

- Pain is not related to a chronic disease

- Receiving evaluation or treatment in a pediatric pain clinic

- Has access to a computer, the Internet, and a phone

Exclusion Criteria:

- A serious comorbid chronic condition in the patient (e.g., diabetes, arthritis,
cancer).

- Non-English speaking

- More than 4 sessions of CBT for pain management in the 6 months prior to the time of
screening.