Advancing Online Psychology Tools for Chronic Pain (ADOPT-CP)

Advancing Online Psychology Tools for Chronic Pain (ADOPT-CP): Feasibility of a Scalable Digital Psychology Intervention and AI-Powered Support for Patients on the Waitlist for Pain Services

Chronic pain affects more than 20% of Canadians and is associated with significant impacts on physical function, mental health, and quality of life. Despite efforts to improve access to multidisciplinary pain care through centralized referral systems, many patients continue to experience prolonged wait times before receiving treatment.

This study evaluates a self-guided digital psychological intervention designed to support chronic pain self-management during the waiting period for specialized pain care. The intervention was developed through a collaboration between the Transitional Pain Service and ManagingLife and aims to improve access to evidence-based psychological support, enhance self-management skills, and reduce pain-related distress among individuals living with chronic pain.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Fibromyalgia; Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Digital psychology intervention (ADOPT-CP); Other: Reminder Emails

Detailed Description

The Advancing Online Psychology Tools for Chronic Pain (ADOPT-CP) intervention provides participants with access to the Manage My Pain (MMP) platform, including a self-guided Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based digital psychology program and Solace, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled conversational support tool for chronic pain. Together, these tools are designed to support pain self-management, emotional coping, and engagement in care.

This study will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary clinical effects of the ADOPT-CP intervention among individuals waiting to access multidisciplinary chronic pain services through the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute (TAPMI). The intervention aims to provide accessible psychological support and self-management resources during the waiting period for specialized pain care.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Didem Bozak; Phone Number: 416-323-6008; Email: didem.bozak@wchospital.ca
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Adriano Nella, MSc; Phone Number: 5977 416-323-6400; Email: Adriano.Nella@wchospital.ca

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1B2
      • Women's College Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Must be deemed to have capacity to provide informed consent;
2. Must sign and date the informed consent form;
3. Must state willingness to comply with all study procedures;
4. Must be at least 18 years of age;
5. Must be referred to TAPMI;
6. Must have either fibromyalgia or chronic pelvic pain
7. Must be on the waitlist at TAPMI;
8. Must have access to a device that can connect to the Internet with access to email.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Currently engaged in psychotherapy or engaged in psychotherapy within the last month at the time of enrolment;
2. Unable to read, understand, or communicate in English sufficiently to provide informed consent and complete the study procedures and questionnaires;
3. Has active serious mental illness or psychiatric instability that, in the opinion of the research team, may impair the ability to safely participate in the study or to provide informed consent (e.g., active psychosis, active mania);
4. Has a visual, auditory, or other functional impairment that would prevent independent access to and use of the digital intervention and study procedures on an internet-enabled device.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Group; The ADOPT-CP intervention includes the Manage My Pain (MMP) app with integrated tools: a customizable pain tracker for monitoring symptoms and generating reports, the Pain Guide with educational content on pain management, a self-guided Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based psychology program, and Solace, an AI-driven conversational agent designed to provide structured, evidence-based psychological support for chronic pain self-management.	Other: Digital psychology intervention (ADOPT-CP); The intervention, Manage My Pain (MMP), is a clinically validated app-based platform that supports individuals with chronic pain in self-managing their symptoms and improving communication and engagement with their care team.
Active Comparator: Control Group; The control group will receive treatment as usual plus weekly emailed resources. These resources include materials introduced during the TAPMI orientation session, including Power Over Pain and Progress Over Pain.	Other: Reminder Emails; Weekly emailed pain self-management resources introduced during the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute (TAPMI) orientation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Trial feasibility	Measured according to the CONSORT criteria and include: eligibility rate, recruitment rate, retention rate, measure completion, absence of or minor adverse events.	10 weeks
Engagement with the digital ADOPT-CP intervention	Measured via MMP app analytics (usage rates, completion of psychology program, etc.)	10 weeks
Acceptability and Appropriateness of the ADOPT-CP intervention	The Treatment Evaluation Inventory-Short Form (TEI-SF) is a self-report measure assessing the acceptability and perceived appropriateness of a treatment or intervention, with higher scores indicating greater treatment acceptability.	10 weeks
Acceptability and Adherence of the ADOPT-CP intervention	The Treatment Acceptability/Adherence Scale (TAAS) is a self-report measure assessing perceived acceptability of an intervention and anticipated or actual adherence, with higher scores indicating greater acceptability and adherence.	10 weeks
Experience using the ADOPT-CP intervention	a semi-structured interview guide will be used to explore participant experiences, barriers and facilitators to use, acceptability, engagement, and opportunities to refine the digital intervention prior to a larger trial.	14 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Quality of Life and Pain Interference	Modified PROMIS-29 Health Domains (Quality of Life and Pain Interference 8a): A validated patient-reported outcome system assessing the impact of health conditions on physical, mental, and social functioning. Higher scores indicate greater pain interference and worse health-related quality of life, while lower scores indicate better functioning and quality of life.	10 weeks
Pain Acceptance	Measured by the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire-Short Form: A validated self-report measure of acceptance of chronic pain. Higher scores indicate greater acceptance of chronic pain, including continued activity engagement and reduced avoidance of pain-related experiences.	10 weeks
Psychological Flexibility	Measured by the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II): A validated self-report measure of psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance. Higher scores indicate greater psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance, while lower scores indicate greater psychological flexibility.	10 weeks
Kinesiophobia	Measured by the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK): a validated self-report questionnaire used to assess fear of movement and fear of re-injury. Higher scores indicate greater fear of movement.	10 weeks
Pain Resiliency	Measured by the Pain Resiliency Scale: Measures how well a person can adapt and maintain function despite chronic pain. Higher scores indicate greater resilience in coping with chronic pain, while lower scores indicate reduced adaptive coping.	10 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Women's College Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Tania Di Renna, MD, FRCPC, Women's College Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): October 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 15, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 22, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Musculoskeletal Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Muscular Diseases; Neuromuscular Diseases; Rheumatic Diseases; Fibromyalgia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2026-

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

IPD Plan Description

At this time, no external data sharing arrangements or future secondary use arrangements are planned. Study data will be retained and used only for the purposes described in this protocol. If future secondary use or collaboration with internal or external investigators is proposed at a later date, this would occur only in accordance with participant consent, WCH REB requirements, and any required data sharing agreements or institutional approvals.

Results from this study may be disseminated through academic publications, presentations, and reports. Only aggregate or de-identified information will be used for these purposes. No participant-identifiable information will be included in any publication or dissemination arising from this study. Study data will not be shared with individuals outside the research team for secondary use.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No