Mindfully Attending to Pain Sensations
Completed · Not applicable
Conditions studied: Chronic Pain
In brief
Substantial evidence suggests that psychosocial factors play a key role in explaining the risk for development of chronic pain, as well as for coping with it. Such factors include psychological perceptions or orientation towards pain, mainly referring to fear of pain and pain catastrophizing. Nonetheless, although this link is well documented, the underlying mechanisms of these processes have yet to be established. The "Attention to Variability" paradigm presents an explanatory mechanism, according to which the ability to mindfully attend to chronic symptoms enables and promotes increased control over the etiology and the expression of chronic symptoms. In support of the ATV paradigm, empirical findings demonstrate that ATV improved pregnancy outcomes and allowed people to gain control over fluctuations in their heart rates. The goal of the present study is to examine whether mindfully attending to pain sensations will decrease the intensity and frequency of chronic pain, increase perceived control of pain, and improve well-being and health-related quality of life.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT03939949
- Run by
- Harvard University
- People needed
- 300
- Starts
- 2018-04-20
- Expected to finish
- 2021-01-29
- Last updated by the study team
- 2026-04-21
Who can join
Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.
You may qualify if…
- Age 18+
- Suffer from chronic pain (at least six months)
- Evaluate their usual level of pain in the last week as 4 and above (on a numeric rating scale from 0-10 with 0 indicating "No Pain" and 10 indicating "Worst pain imaginable)
- Fluent in English
- Owns a smartphone
You may not qualify if…
- Individuals under the age of 18;
- Individuals who are not patients of our collaborating pain clinics or online chronic pain support groups and/or do not endorse their pain as chronic.
- Individuals who are pregnant
- Individuals with diagnosed cognitive impairment
- Individuals who would not be able to read text messages because of visual impairment
- Individuals with ongoing/current complications from spinal cord injury
- Individuals with active cancer
- Amputees
- Individuals with unhealed fractures
- Diabetics who do not have symptoms under control
- Individuals who have visited a doctor for a fall in the last 6 months
- Individuals with the diagnosis of schizophrenia
Where it is running
- Tufts Medical Center — Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Harvard University — Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- New England Physiatry — Stoneham, Massachusetts, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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