Empowered Relief: A One-Time Session to Help Postpartum Women Manage Ongoing Pain After Cesarean Delivery

November 17, 2025 updated by: PSultan, Stanford University

A Pilot Feasibility Trial for an Intervention to Reduce Chronic Pain Following Cesarean Delivery

The purpose of this study is to study the effect of a pain relief skills session (Empowered Relief) on chronic pain incidence at 12 weeks post cesarean delivery.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

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
      • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94304
        • Stanford University

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:

  • Females 18 years of age or older
  • Any postpartum woman who has had a cesarean delivery in the Stanford Healthcare system with a viable birth
  • has moderate/severe pain, scoring ≥ 4/10 on the numerical/visual analog scale that continues at 6 weeks postpartum
  • English fluency
  • Ability to adhere to and complete study protocols
  • Access to smart device for zoom / video meetings

Exclusion Criteria:

  • <18yrs
  • Chronic pain prior to pregnancy
  • Cognitive impairment, non-English speaking, or psychological factors that would preclude comprehension of material and/or full participation in the study.

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
Experimental: 1-Session pain relief skills session (Empowered Relief)

Participants will attend an Empowered Relief session at the beginning of the study period.

Empowered Relief is a 2-hour one session pain relief skills intervention that is delivered to patients by a certified instructor using a standardized treatment manual and slide deck. Content includes completion of a pain survey, pain neuroscience education, information on pain and stress responses, experiential exercises, information on three core pain management skills, completion of a personalized plan for empowered relief, and receipt of a binaural app for daily use.

Standard of care will be maintained for all participants, and supplemented with Empowered Relief. Pain management is not a factor for inclusion/exclusion criteria and patients will continue their pain management as prescribed and directed by their provider
Behavioral: Empowered Relief
The participants will attend a pain relief skills intervention (Empowered Relief). The two-hour session is delivered by a certified instructor and includes pain neuroscience education, 3 core pain management skills, experiential exercises, completion of a personalized plan for empowered relief. Participants download a binaural relaxation audio file for daily use.
Other Names:
  • 1-Session Pain Relief Skills Intervention
No Intervention: Control arm: Postpartum Standard of Care
Participants will follow their current standard of care.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Percentage of participants registering for Empowered Relief session
Time Frame: Baseline (up to 1 week)
Baseline (up to 1 week)
Percentage of participants attending Empowered Relief session
Time Frame: Treatment (up to 2 weeks)
Treatment (up to 2 weeks)
Participant Satisfaction Scale Score
Time Frame: 1 - 2 weeks Post treatment
Participant satisfaction will be measured using a 7 item questionnaire (scale ranges from 0 - 42, higher ratings represent greater satisfaction with the treatment).
1 - 2 weeks Post treatment
Participant Treatment Skills Use Scale Score
Time Frame: 4 - 6 weeks Post Treatment
Participant treatment skills use will be measured with a 5 items questionnaire (scale ranges from 0 - 25, higher ratings represent increased time using treatment).
4 - 6 weeks Post Treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from baseline in PROMIS Pain Interference 8a scale score
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 6

Participants complete Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Outcomes System (PROMIS) Pain Interference 8a questionnaire, an 8-item scale assessing pain interference with life enjoyment, concentration, and daily activities over the past 7 days.

(Score range 8 - 40, higher scores represent a greater degree of pain interference).
Baseline, Week 6
Change from baseline in PROMIS Pain Intensity 3a scale score
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 6

Participants complete PROMIS Pain Intensity 3a questionnaire, a 3-item scale assessing average pain intensity for the past 7 days.

(Score range 3 - 15, higher score represents a greater degree of pain intensity)
Baseline, Week 6
Change from baseline in Pain Catastrophizing Scale Score
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 6

Participants complete Pain Catastrophizing questionnaire, a 13-item scale assessing an individual's pain experience

(Score range 0 - 52, higher score represents a greater degree of pain catastrophizing)
Baseline, Week 6
Change from baseline in PEG scale score (composite)
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of study completion at 6 weeks

Participants complete thrice weekly Pain, Enjoyment, General Activity Scale (PEG) questionnaire, a 3-item scale assessing pain interference and intensity via SMS.

(Score range 0 - 30, higher score represents a greater degree of pain intensity/interference)
From enrollment to the end of study completion at 6 weeks
Change from baseline in PEG scale score (pain interference)
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of study completion at 6 weeks

Participants complete thrice weekly PEG questionnaire, to assess pain interference via SMS.

(Score range 0 - 20, higher score represents a greater degree of interference)
From enrollment to the end of study completion at 6 weeks
Change from baseline in PEG scale score (pain intensity)
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of study completion at 6 weeks

Participants complete thrice weekly PEG questionnaire to assess pain intensity, via SMS.

(Score range 0 - 10, higher score represents a greater degree of pain intensity)
From enrollment to the end of study completion at 6 weeks
Response rate to individual items of the PEG scale score via SMS
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of study completion at 6 weeks

Participant percentage responding to items of the thrice weekly PEG questionnaire, a 3-item scale assessing pain interference and intensity via SMS.

(Score range 0 - 3; higher scores indicate higher response rate)
From enrollment to the end of study completion at 6 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Stanford University

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Pervez Sultan, MBChB, FRCA, MD(Res), Stanford University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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)

September 25, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 22, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 22, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

July 29, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 20, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 17, 2025

Last Verified

July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 80475
  • 1R90HD118650 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article, after deidentification (text, tables, figures, and appendices).

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Wish whom? Investigators whose proposed use of the data has been approved by an independent review committee ("learned intermediary") identified for this purpose.

For what types of analysis? For individual participant data meta-analysis

By what mechanism will data be made available? Proposals may be submitted up to 36 months following article publication. After 36 months the data will be available in our University's data warehouse but without investigator support other than deposited metadata. Information regarding submitting proposals and accessing data may be found at (Link to be provided).

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL

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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