Jazz Music and Mindfulness for Chronic Pain

January 29, 2026 updated by: Sean D Young, University of California, Irvine
Chronic pain, including spinal pain and osteoarthritis, is the leading cause of years lived with disability world-wide and the costliest health condition in the U.S. today. Compounding these concerns, opioid analgesics remain the primary pharmacological treatment for chronic pain. An estimated 21-29% of chronic pain patients receiving long-term opioid therapy develop opioid misuse, and opioid misuse portends addiction and overdose. Clearly, chronic pain patients need better, non-addictive treatment options designed to reverse the downward spiral of chronic pain.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Group Assignments

Participants will be randomized into one of three groups.

  1. Jazz Group 1: Participants in this group will watch an introduction to jazz appreciation video prior to the 4-week intervention.
  2. Jazz Group 2 (Mindful Jazz) Group: Participants in this group will watch a video on mindful listening to jazz.
  3. Music Waitlist Group: Participants in this group will serve as a control and will not receive any intervention until the study is completed. They will complete a baseline survey and a follow-up survey at four weeks. Some videos will be sent to this group after the study is completed, without tracking their usage.

Intervention

All groups will complete a baseline and 4-week follow-up survey.

Participants in Jazz Group 1 and Jazz Group 2 will engage in daily listening 4-week intervention.They will have access to electronic audio recordings, with the order of listening labeled for each day. It is up to them if they want to listen to the daily recordings.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

90

Phase

  • 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 Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Irvine, California, United States, 92868
        • University of California Irvine

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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Are 18+
  2. Live in the US
  3. Are an English-proficient adult with a chronic pain diagnosis (no restrictions placed on type)
  4. Have a pain rating of four or greater in average pain on a 0-10 numeric rating scale in the preceding week
  5. Have had pain for at least 3 months and for at least 15 days in the preceding 30 days
  6. Have moderate to severe anxiety based on GAD-7

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Are currently using or have used prescription opioids in the past 3 months to minimize a known treatment confound and increase sample homogeneity
  2. Have a current cancer diagnosis

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Jazz Only
Jazz Group 1: Participants in this group will watch an introduction to jazz appreciation video prior to the 4-week intervention.
Behavioral: Listening to Jazz

All groups will complete a baseline and 4-week follow-up survey.

Participants in Jazz Group 1 and Jazz Group 2 will engage in daily listening 4-week intervention.They will have access to electronic audio recordings, with the order of listening labeled for each day. The recordings will increase gradually throughout the study, starting with about 10 minutes each day in the first week and reaching 30 minutes each day in the final week. The schedule is as follows: Week 1= 10 minutes, Week 2= 15 minutes, Week 3= 20 minutes Week 4= 30 minutes. It is up to them if they want to listen to the daily recordings.
Experimental: MIndfullness and Jazz
Jazz Group 2 (Mindful Jazz) Group: Participants in this group will watch an introduction to jazz appreciation and mindfulness training video, including the use of jazz for pain tolerance prior to the 4-week intervention.
Behavioral: MIndfulness Listening to Jazz

All groups will complete a baseline and 4-week follow-up survey.

Participants in Jazz Group 1 and Jazz Group 2 will engage in daily listening 4-week intervention.It is up to them if they want to listen to the daily recordings.
No Intervention: Waitlist
Music Waitlist Group: Participants in this group will serve as a control and will not receive any intervention until the study is completed. They will complete a baseline survey and a follow-up survey at four weeks. Some videos will be sent to this group after the study is completed, without tracking their usage.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain Intensity portion of The Pain, Enjoyment of Life and General Activity (PEG) scale
Time Frame: 4 weeks
The Pain, Enjoyment of Life and General Activity (PEG) scale will be used to assess the magnitude of pain sensations experienced by participants in the past week. Range 0-10, where higher score equals more pain.
4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain Intensity
Time Frame: 4 weeks
The PEG scale will be used to assess the magnitude of pain sensations experienced by participants in the past week.
4 weeks
Pain Interference
Time Frame: 4 weeks
The degree of pain interference in different aspects of participants' lives will be evaluated using the PEG scale.
4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of California, Irvine

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)

August 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 28, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 28, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

August 7, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 2, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 29, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 3454

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.

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