Near-infrared Spectroscopy-based Neurofeedback as Adjunct to Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement in Persons With Chronic Pain

April 16, 2025 updated by: University of Utah
The primary aim of this pilot trial is to enhance the efficacy of the Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) intervention by adding neurofeedback (NF) of the Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC) as an adjunct to the savoring component of MORE. We hypothesize that the use of NF to train OFC responses during savoring will amplify patients' ability to savor and thereby increase brain responsivity to natural rewards; such enhanced reward responding will in turn be associated with improvements in clinical outcomes (e.g., pain, analgesic use).

Study Overview

Status

Status

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

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.

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 (Actual)

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.
142

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 Locations

  • United States
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84112
        • Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. ≥18 years of age,
  2. ability to understand and speak the English language
  3. current chronic pain-related diagnosis

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. mindfulness training experience (e.g., participation in MBSR/MBRP)
  2. neurofeedback experience
  3. current cancer diagnosis
  4. having a psychiatric or medical condition that precludes the ability to provide informed consent or participation in outpatient treatment (e.g., psychosis, mania, acute intoxication)
  5. suicidal ideation with a plan in the past week, or a suicide attempt in the past 3 months
  6. unwilling, unable, or unlikely to complete study procedures (e.g., planned major surgery, anticipated move, travel barrier)
  7. communication or cognitive impairment that limits participation in group treatment or study procedures

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: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

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: MORE+NF
Behavioral: Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement
8 weeks of therapy integrating mindfulness, reappraisal, and savoring skills.
Other: Neurofeedback
Near-infrared spectroscopy neurofeedback during savoring practice.
Active Comparator: MORE
Behavioral: Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement
8 weeks of therapy integrating mindfulness, reappraisal, and savoring skills.
Active Comparator: Supportive Psychotherapy
Behavioral: Supportive Psychotherapy
8 weeks of supportive, process-oriented psychotherapy.

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
Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signaling
Time Frame: From baseline to immediately after the intervention.
Changes in blood oxygenation levels to reward cues will be assessed, and planned comparisons will be performed between subjects receiving MORE+NF vs the control conditions.
From baseline to immediately after the intervention.

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
Chronic pain symptoms
Time Frame: From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Chronic pain symptoms will be measured with the Brief Pain Inventory, where higher scores indicate worse pain (min 0, max 10).
From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Opioid misuse
Time Frame: From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Scores on Current Opioid Misuse Measure, with higher scores indicating higher opioid misuse (min 0, max 68)
From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Opioid dose
Time Frame: From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Opioid dose as assessed with Timeline Followback Procedure
From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Savoring
Time Frame: From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Savoring as measured by the Brief Savoring Inventory, with higher scores indicating higher savoring (min 4, max 20)
From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Distress
Time Frame: From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Emotional distress measured by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, with higher scores indicating higher distress (min 0, max 63)
From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Self-transcendence
Time Frame: From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Self-transcendence measured by Nondual Awareness Dimensional Assessment, with higher scores indicating higher self-transcendence (min 13, max 65)
From baseline to 3-month follow-up.
Pleasant sensation ratio
Time Frame: From baseline to immediately after intervention.
Pleasant sensation ratio as measured by Sensation Manikin, a measure comprised of a visual body map to demonstrate the location and distribution of sensations.
From baseline to immediately after intervention.
Opioid craving
Time Frame: From baseline to 1-month follow-up.
Opioid craving measured by numeric rating scale, with higher scores indicating worse craving (min 0, max 10)
From baseline to 1-month follow-up.
Positive affect
Time Frame: From baseline to 1-month follow-up.
Positive affect measured by numeric rating scale, with higher scores indicating higher positive affect (min 0, max 10)
From baseline to 1-month follow-up.
Pleasure ratings
Time Frame: From baseline to immediately after intervention.
Positive affect measured by numeric rating scale, with higher scores indicating higher pleasure (min 0, max 10)
From baseline to immediately after 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 Utah

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Eric Garland, University of Utah

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.
April 3, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

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.
April 3, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

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.
April 3, 2025

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).
May 20, 2021

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 20, 2021

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 26, 2021

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.
April 22, 2025

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.
April 16, 2025

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.
April 1, 2025

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.
  • IRB_00129302

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

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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