Group-based Mindfulness for Chronic Pain in the Primary Care Setting
Group-based Mindfulness for Chronic Pain in the Primary Care Setting
The purpose of this pragmatic clinical trial (PCT) research is to determine whether a
 group-visit approach modeled on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction can improve function for
 persons with chronic low back pain. This will be done by an embedded PCT within the
 evidence-based "OPTIMUM" (Optimizing Pain Treatment In Medical settings Using Mindfulness)
 program.

 The research will be conducted with three health care system (HCS) sites: Boston Medical
 Center, MA, a safety net health system; UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, a large health system; and
 Piedmont Health Services, NC, a network of federally funded health centers in partnership
 with the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill.

 As per NIH protocol for the funding, the first 12 month (Phase 1) of this PCT will be a pilot
 to plan and test the group-based mindfulness program for chronic pain program in each of the
 three sites with 5 participants/site. Once completed the Phase 2 will be conducted to
 integrate and test the group-based mindfulness program compared to standard of care for
 patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) in the primary care setting at each collaborating
 site.

 Eligible consenting participants will be randomized to either: the primary care providers
 (PCP) usual care group, or the group with both PCP usual care and the 8 weeks mindfulness
 clinical pain group. Participants will be asked to complete baseline and follow-up surveys
 about pain, function, pain medicine use, mood and anxiety symptoms, and quality of life. The
 surveys will take up to an hour to complete.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Chronic low back pain, that is pain that persists for at least 3-months and has
 resulted in pain on at least half the days in the past 6 months.

 -  Willing and able to provide informed consent.

 -  Speak English as the intervention manual is currently written in English.

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  In the past month, worsening of pain, unexplained fever, unexplained weight loss

 -  Back injury in the past 3 months

 -  Pregnancy

 -  Metastatic cancer