Telephone Intervention for Pain Study (TIPS)

Efficacy of Telephone-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain

Treatments teaching people how to manage pain have been used to treat chronic pain in the general population. The purpose of this study is to see if these treatments delivered over the telephone can benefit persons with multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or an acquired amputation. Specifically, we want to determine if these treatments can help reduce the negative consequences that pain often causes in terms of a person's mood, daily activities, and enjoyment of life. We are also interested in finding out if these treatments decrease a person's pain.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Definitive diagnosis of acquired amputation (AMP), multiple sclerosis (MS), or spinal cord injury (SCI) confirmed by participants' primary care physicians
• Average pain intensity in the past month of greater than 3 on 0-10 numeric rating scale;
• Pain is either worse or started since the onset of the disability;
• Pain of at least six months duration, with pain reportedly present greater than or equal to half of the days in the past six months;
• Read, write and understand English;
• Must be able to communicate over the phone (i.e., must be verbal);
• Age 18 years or older.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Cognitive impairment defined as one or more errors on the Six-Item screener (Callahan et al., 2002).
• Current or previous participation in a psychological treatment for pain (obtained via self-report).
• Current participation in a psychological treatment for any reason on a regular basis(obtained via self-report).