Subjects assigned to the experimental group will participate in a MBSR foundation program, which includes weekly telephonic, group-based, 60-minute MBSR sessions for 6 weeks. The foundation program will introduce subjects to the concept of mindfulness with each week focusing on a different facet. Modeled after Kabat-Zinn's original program, breath awareness (focus on breath and observing thoughts without fighting or following them), body scan (promoting mindfulness of sensations in different parts of body), walking meditation (walking as form of meditation), loving kindness (projection of friendliness and kindness towards oneself and others), and choiceness awareness (awareness of all sensations with equal interest) will be taught.

Subjects assigned to the wait-listed control group will not receive the MBSR program, but will receive weekly reminders of their study participation, be asked to complete the same questionnaires (per telephone script) once every three weeks, and receive the same financial incentives as the MBSR group. Upon completion of the 6-week session, the wait-list control group will be offered the same MBSR program. At that time, a new series of MBSR sessions will be scheduled and offered to the wait-listed control patients. Subjects who elect to participate in MBSR will receive the same packet of materials and measures received by the intervention group and be asked to complete the measures again at baseline, 1, 3, and 6 weeks.

A non-pharmacological approach to pain management.

Acceptability of the intervention will be assessed by semi-scripted telephone or in-person interviews. The semi-scripted interview will focus on MBSR patients' reflections and expectations of the program, the mindfulness skills they found useful and in what ways, the skills they found less useful and or difficult to implement, and on any changes in thoughts or actions that resulted from the application of the MBSR techniques.

Feasibility of the intervention will be assessed by recruitment and attrition rates, number of daily mindfulness logs completed, and average number of weekly minutes of mindfulness practice as recorded in logs. Feasibility data will be obtained for both the intervention and control subjects who elect to receive the intervention after the intervention is complete with the MBSR group. However, data will not be analyzed together because the delay to receiving the intervention would affect the results. Data from the control group will be used to help inform future studies.

Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize the pain catastrophizing at week1, 3, and 6, as measured by the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Trajectory analyses, using a type of mixed effects model known as a random coefficients regression model for repeated measurement, will be conducted to evaluate and compare the rate and pattern of change over the 6 weeks in the MBSR and wait-listed control groups for pain catastrophizing.