VETERANS AFFAIRS AUGUSTA

This is a prospective cohort study with a retrospective matched comparison group. We will enroll 200 Veterans receiving care at VA Augusta Health Care System who meet criteria for high in-person healthcare utilization and have a diagnosis of chronic pain. One hundred participants will use the chatbot over a 12-month period and complete assessments at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Primary outcomes include pain interference (PEG Scale), quality of life (VR-12), patient activation (PAM), self-efficacy, depression and anxiety symptoms (PROMIS), sleep disturbance (PROMIS), loneliness (UCLA), and substance use (AUDIT-C, DAST-10). We will also collect data on employment, caregiving roles, and opioid prescriptions. A retrospective comparison group will be identified from medical records to assess relative changes in healthcare utilization. The remaining 100 participants will act as the comparison group in this study is primarily identified through retrospective chart data, we will proactively invite a subset of these Veterans to complete the same self-reported measures as the intervention group (e.g., PEG, VR-12, PROMIS Depression/Anxiety, Sleep, Self-Efficacy, UCLA Loneliness, AUDIT-C, and DAST- 10). This approach will strengthen our ability to compare patient-reported outcomes across groups and provide valuable insights into the impact of the chatbot intervention. We will identify Veterans in the comparison group based on matched characteristics (e.g., high in-person healthcare utilization, chronic pain diagnosis, and demographic/clinical factors) and invite them to participate in survey assessments at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Outreach will include an initial letter or email invitation explaining the study purpose, eligibility criteria, and procedures, followed by phone calls from the research team to answer questions, obtain consent, and support survey completion.