Interoceptive Exposure as a Treatment Option for Disabling Fear of Pain

May 11, 2018 updated by: Aleksandra Puchala, University of Leeds

Interoceptive Exposure as a Treatment Option for Disabling Fear of Pain: a Single Case Series

The aim of this study is to investigate the use of Interoceptive Exposure (IE) in treatment of disabling fear of pain using a single-case series design.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Unknown

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

The intervention Interoceptive Exposure (IE) is an exposure to bodily sensations used in treatment of variety of problems where body sensations are experienced as threatening. The application of IE is expected to reduce the threat value of pain and subsequently promote recovery. This study will evaluate the effects of IE and will briefly comprises of: education session explaining the rationale behind IE practice, teaching of the technique, supervised IE practice and self-monitored home practice twice daily for the period of two weeks. Depending on the length of baseline (i.e. observation period before the start of intervention) the study will last between 6 and 8 weeks. Daily Diary, a short nine item instrument was designed to measure the pain experience (intensity and interference) and fear of pain on a daily basis. Other, standard outcome measures include: pain related anxiety, pain catastrophising, pain related disability, knowledge about pain and general anxiety and depression. Study participants will be recruited during routine psychology screening assessment at the Pain Clinic at St James' Hospital. This study will recruit from clinical psychology waiting list patients.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
8

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
    • West Yorkshire
      • Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, LS9 7TF
        • Recruiting
        • Pain Clinic, Fielding House at St James's Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Aleksandra Puchala

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of chronic pain (i.e. pain present for minimum of 3 months following tissue damage)
  • 18 years or older
  • Capacity to give informed consent
  • Appropriate diagnostic investigations in other specialties as appropriate have been exhausted and first line interventions, like analgesia, have been tried.
  • Participant has appropriate expectations regarding psychological treatment, i.e. does not expect injections etc.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Insufficient understanding of English or additional needs which mean the potential participant is unable to complete questionnaires independently. This is because the research project does not have the resources to make significant adaptations to the materials i.e. translation into another language or into Braille.
  • Unable to meet the demands of the study (i.e. daily recording of data, daily practice of IE, coming for sessions to St James' Hospital).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: NA
  • Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
EXPERIMENTAL: Pain Education/Interoceptive Exposure
This study will evaluate the effects of IE and will briefly comprises of: education session explaining the rationale behind IE practice, teaching of the technique, supervised IE practice and self-monitored home practice twice daily for the period of two weeks.
Behavioral: Interoceptive Exposure
The intervention Interoceptive Exposure (IE) is an exposure to bodily sensations used in treatment of variety of problems where body sensations are experienced as threatening. This psychological technique is about focusing attention on pain, 'staying with the pain' without trying to escape it.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Daily Diary
Time Frame: Assessed daily, throughout the duration of the study. Depending on the length of the baseline this will be between 42 and 56 days.
The Daily Diary is a 9 item questionnaire used for recording daily ratings of pain distress, pain interference and the fear of pain. Items 1-4 use visual analogue scales (VAS) to measure pain distress and interference. Each VAS has two anchors: "not at all distressing" and "extremely distressing" for pain distress questions (Items 1-3) and "does not interfere" and "interferes completely" for pain interference (Item 4), providing a range of scores between 0 and 100. Higher scores indicate greater pain distress and interference. Additionally, there are 5 statements assessing the fear of pain, which participants rate on a 5 point Likert Scale, where the score of 0 equals "not at all" and score of 4 equals "all the time". An example question: "Pain Sensations are terrifying". Total Fear of Pain Score is calculated by adding up scores on items 5 to 9. Higher Scores indicate higher fear of pain, min = 0, max = 20.
Assessed daily, throughout the duration of the study. Depending on the length of the baseline this will be between 42 and 56 days.
Change in Activity levels, i.e. number of steps taken
Time Frame: Assessed daily, throughout the duration of the study. Depending on the length of the baseline this will be between 42 and 56 days.
This will be measured with an activity monitor NOKIA GO worn by participants on their wrists or attached to their belt.
Assessed daily, throughout the duration of the study. Depending on the length of the baseline this will be between 42 and 56 days.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS: Sullivan, Bishop & Pivik, 1995)
Time Frame: at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
Standardised measure of pain catastrophising. The PCS is a 13 item scale, with each item rated on a 5-point Likert type scale: 0 (Not at all) to 4 (all the time). Sample item: "I worry all the time about whether the pain will end". The PCS is broken into three sub-scales: magnification, rumination, and helplessness. Scores are added up for each sub-scale, a Total Score is achieved by adding up all 13 items. The higher the score, the more catastrophizing thoughts are present. Previous studies have shown a cutoff of more than 30 points to be associated with clinical relevance.
at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale Short Scale (PASS-20: McCracken & Dhingra, 2002)
Time Frame: at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
The PASS-20 assesses pain specific anxiety symptoms using four components of pain-related anxiety: cognitive, fear, escape avoidance, and physiological. Each of the four sub-scales has five items. All items are rated from 0 (never) to 5 (always). Sample item: "I worry when I am in pain". Scores are added up for each sub-scale, a Total Score is achieved by adding up all 20 items. The higher the score, the more pain anxiety symptoms. Maximum Total Score: 100, Minimum Total Score: 0.
at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
Pain Disability Index (PDI: Pollard, 1984)
Time Frame: at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
This is a brief self-report measure of disability and is designed to measure the extent to which chronic pain interferes with an individual's ability to engage in activities (Pollard, 1981). Respondents rate the degree to which pain interferes with functioning in seven broad areas: family/home responsibilities, recreation, social activity, occupation, sexual behaviour, self-care, and life-support activity on a ten-point scale of 0 (no disability) to 10 (total disability). Sample Item: "Recreation: This disability includes hobbies, sports, and other similar leisure time activities". An overall score (with a possible total of 70) is computed by summing the seven sub-scales, higher scores indicate greater level of pain related disability. Validity and reliability have been established for this measure (Tait, Chibnall and Krause, 1990).
at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS: Zigmond & Snaith, 1983)
Time Frame: at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
Standardised questionnaire used in assessing generalised anxiety and depression. The questionnaire comprises seven questions for anxiety and seven questions for depression (total number of items = 14). Each item on the questionnaire is scored from 0 - 3 and this means that a person can score between 0 and 21 for either anxiety or depression. Sample Item: "I feel tense or 'wound up'", response options: "Most of the time" (scored 3 points), "A lot of the time" (Scored 2 points), "From time to time" (Scored 1 point), "Not at all" (Scored 0 points). Although the anxiety and depression questions are interspersed within the questionnaire, they can be added up together (Total Score) or added up within each sub-scale (Depression Total Score and Anxiety Total Score). Higher scores are indicative of more symptoms of Generalised Anxiety and Depression.
at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ: McCracken, Vowles & Eccleston, 2004)
Time Frame: at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).
Standardised questionnaire used in assessing the acceptance of pain in chronic pain sufferers. The CPAQ assesses acceptance of pain using two factors: Activity Engagement (participation in daily activities while acknowledging the presence of pain, 11 items) and Pain Willingness (the degree to which pain is allowed in experience without efforts to avoid or control it; 9 items). Sample Item: "My life is going well, even though I have chronic pain". The items on the CPAQ are rated on a 7-point scale from 0 (never true) to 6 (always true). Scoring is done by adding the items for Activity engagement and Pain willingness to obtain a Total Score for each factor. Additionally, a total score of Pain Acceptance is calculated by adding the scores for each factor together. Higher scores indicate higher levels of acceptance. Maximum Total Acceptance Score is 120, Minimum Total Acceptance Score is 0.
at three time points: assessment (day one), pre-intervention (depending on the length of the baseline 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks later) and post-intervention (6, 7 or 8 weeks from the start of the intervention).

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Leeds

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
March 5, 2018

Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
September 30, 2018

Study Completion (ANTICIPATED)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
September 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
April 20, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 11, 2018

First Posted (ACTUAL)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 14, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 14, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 11, 2018

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • PY18/100386
  • IRAS Project ID: 226054 (OTHER: Integrated Research Application System)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings