A randomized controlled trial of an online acceptance and commitment therapy-based intervention for chronic pain for military and police

Chronic pain is a serious health issue worldwide and is a prominent issue in military and police populations. Chronic pain sufferers often find it difficult to attend in-person treatment sessions for a variety of reasons. Utilizing the internet may allow for greater accessibility to interventions that cater to their specific needs. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the efficacy of an 8-week online ACT-based intervention for chronic pain within a military and police outpatient sample. A total of 29 patients with chronic pain were randomly assigned to treatment or waitlist control conditions, and completed pain-related measures pretreatment, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up. Positive outcomes for pain acceptance, fear of movement/re-injury, and pain disability in favor of the treatment condition were found, with interaction effects ranging from moderate to large (i.e., η_p² = 0.11–0.32). Improvements in pain-related variables were maintained at the 3-month follow-up. Baseline PTSD and depression scores were not found to be meaningful predictors of changes in primary outcome variables from pre- to post-treatment. We conclude that an online ACT-based intervention can be effective for military and police suffering from chronic pain, though limitations to the study suggest further research is warranted.