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The MyRelief Digital Educational Self-Management Program for Persistent Low Back Pain: Feasibility Uncontrolled Trial

No Stage 1 found
AuthorsCaroline LarssonJoanne MarleyFlavia PiccininiSarah HowesElisa CasoniVincenzo AschettinoCarlos Vaz de CarvalhoSuzanne McDonough
Year2025
VenueJMIR Formative Research

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of work absence globally. Digital interventions have the potential to increase access to self-management support for individuals with persistent LBP. Objective: To evaluate the feasibility, usability and acceptability of an online educational programme (MyRelief) designed to support self-management strategies for people with persistent LBP Methods: A prospective uncontrolled feasibility study was conducted across four countries Italy, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom between 2020 and 2021. Adults in employment with non-specific persistent low-back pain (>3months) with access to the internet were eligible to participate. Participants were given access to MyRelief, an eight unit evidence based educational self-management programme. Feasibility of the MyRelief programme was assessed using recruitment rates, a priori success threshold of >70% of the target sample (50 participants), retention <35% drop-out rate. Pre and post intervention measures of functional disability were assessed using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and health related quality of life using the EQ-5D-5L. Additional post intervention measures included the Patient enablement instrument (PEI) the System Usability Scale (SUS). Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, and qualitative feedback was analysed using a reflexive analytical approach. Results: The recruitment feasibility threshold was met (80%), forty participants (21 women,19 men) mean age of 57 years, mean pain duration 11.5 years enrolled in the study. 17 participants (11 male, 6 female) completed both the baseline and 12 week follow-up questionnaires. This represented a retention rate of 42.5% (n=17/40) and a dropout rate of 57.5% , which did not meet a priori criteria of < 35% dropouts. Approximately half of the participants presented with low baseline disability scores (mean ODI 24.0; 95%CI:18-31) with no significant change at follow-up (mean ODI 23.9; 95%CI:16- 31). EQ-5D-5L scores improved from 0.68 (95%CI: 0.608-0.76) to 0.72 (95%CI: 0.66-0.79) indicating a clinically significant change. PEI scores post intervention were high (mean 5.31) indicating good perceived enablement. The mean SUS score was 72.4 (95%CI: 67.5-73.3) indicating an good level of perceived ease-of-use. Over all the quality of outcome measure completion was high (100%). Qualitative feedback indicated areas for improvement relating to challenges around access and navigation within the website. Conclusions: The MyRelief study demonstrated feasibility in terms of recruitment but not retention. However low baseline disability levels are not representative of the wider persistent LBP population. Future studies should broaden recruitment strategies, in particular recruiting from healthcare settings to improve representativeness. Although usability met industry standards, qualitative feedback suggests that navigation and accessibility require further optimisation to better align with end-user preferences for online digital health interventions. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrial.gov, NCT04673773; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04673773

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