• Lisa R Miller-Matero, Leah M Hecht, Mary Kate Miller, Kirsti Autio, Bethany D Pester, Erin T Tobin, Shivali Patel, Jordan M Braciszewski, Melissa Maye, and Brian K Ahmedani.
• Behavioral Health, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
• Pain Med. 2021 Jul 25; 22 (7): 1603-1611.

ObjectiveAlthough evidence-based psychological interventions improve chronic pain, many patients do not engage in behavioral health services. Offering a brief intervention in a medical setting may provide benefits to patients with chronic pain. The purpose of this study was to examine preliminary outcomes of a brief psychological intervention for chronic pain delivered in primary care.DesignPilot randomized controlled trial.SettingPrimary care clinic.SubjectsSixty participants with chronic pain were randomized to a 5-session psychological intervention or treatment-as-usual control group.MethodsParticipants completed pre- and post-intervention measures assessing pain severity, pain interference, pain catastrophizing, depression, and anxiety.ResultsMost participants (76.7%) randomized to the intervention completed all sessions. Compared to the control group, those in the intervention had decreases in pain severity (P = .048), pain catastrophizing (P = .04), and depression (P = .01) from pre- to post-intervention. Within the intervention group, there was a significant improvement in pain interference scores (P = 0.02). Within the intervention group, effect sizes were medium to large for changes in pain severity, pain interference, pain catastrophizing, and depression scores. There were no significant changes in anxiety scores.ConclusionResults suggest that delivery of a brief psychological intervention for chronic pain in primary care appears to offer improvements in pain severity, pain interference, pain catastrophizing, and depression. Findings suggest that shorter-term psychological interventions may offer similar benefits as longer-term ones. Furthermore, offering a brief intervention in primary care may increase access and engagement in behavioral pain management services. Future research should examine this through a fully-powered trial with longer-term outcomes.© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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