In medically underserved communities, patients’ prior experience with virtual doctor visits influenced their willingness to participate in a telehealth-delivered mindfulness program for chronic low back pain.
The analysis from the OPTIMUM trial was published online in JMIR mHealth and uHealth.
OPTIMUM, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, studied the addition of mindfulness-based group telehealth visits to usual care for patients with chronic low back pain, with the goal of improving pain outcomes.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction is included in evidence-based guidelines for initial treatment of chronic low back pain. However, attending in-person group sessions can be difficult for patients facing transportation, scheduling, or economic barriers. While telehealth-based delivery offers a promising solution, little is known about how patients’ comfort and familiarity with digital health tools affect their enrollment in online programs.
Researchers from the OPTIMUM team conducted a cross-sectional analysis of participants from a safety net health center and a federally qualified health center to evaluate how sociodemographic characteristics, internet access, and other factors related to telehealth experience and willingness to enroll in the trial. The authors concluded that targeted outreach and engagement strategies may help to support broader implementation of telehealth for chronic low back pain.
OPTIMUM is supported within the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory through the NIH HEAL Initiative by a grant award administered by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Learn more about OPTIMUM.