The Group-Based Mindfulness for Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain in the Primary Care Setting (OPTIMUM) trial has begun enrollment of study participants. The trial is part of the first cohort of the NIH Collaboratory’s Demonstration Projects to be supported through the NIH Heal Initiative’s PRISM program.

Congratulations to principal investigator Dr. Natalia Morone and the OPTIMUM team!

OPTIMUM is a pragmatic clinical trial integrating a group-based mindfulness stress reduction program into primary care settings for patients with chronic low back pain. The study will randomly assign 450 patients in 3 healthcare systems to either the group-based mindfulness intervention or usual care. The aim of the study is to integrate the program into primary care clinics and measure its effectiveness in reducing chronic low back pain, improving physical and psychological function, and reducing or stopping opioid prescriptions.

The PRISM projects—Pragmatic and Implementation Studies for the Management of Pain to Reduce Opioid Prescribing—are studying the real-world effectiveness of nonpharmacologic interventions for pain and assessing the implementation of these interventions to improve pain management and reduce reliance on opioids. The NIH Collaboratory Coordinating Center serves as the PRISM Resource Coordinating Center.

Learn more about OPTIMUM in this interview with Dr. Morone.

OPTIMUM is supported by the NIH through the NIH HEAL Initiative under an award from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.