Feasibility of Mindfulness Meditation Training and Home Practice in Persons With Spinal Cord Injury

Feasibility of Mindfulness Meditation Training and Home Practice in Persons With Spinal Cord Injury: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a 6-week app-guided Mindfulness meditation training (MM) intervention and health education (active control) condition in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) who have chronic pain and to examine the feasibility of data collection procedures

Our multidisciplinary, interinstitutional team of investigators proposes to randomize 60 SCI patients experiencing chronic pain to practice audio-guided MM for ≥ 10 minutes daily for 6 weeks using the free app "Mindfulness Coach" developed by the Department of Veteran Affairs, or to listen or view health education presentations (active control) ≥ 10 minutes daily for 6 weeks on the free TED app (active control). Primary outcomes are the feasibility and acceptability of proposed interventions in people with SCI and chronic pain. Secondary outcomes include the feasibility of collecting patient-reported outcomes of pain, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, quality of life, stress, fatigue and sleep disturbance.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Traumatic SCI of at least 6 months duration
• Chronic pain [defined as pain lasting at least 3 months with a pain intensity rating of 4 or higher on a 10-point visual analog scale]
• Understand spoken and written English sufficiently to provide informed consent
• participate in the intervention and complete study surveys

Exclusion Criteria:

• Lack of daily access to the internet using a smart phone or smart tablet
• Cognitive impairment (determined by their inability to demonstrate comprehension of informed consent by correctly answering 4 out of 5 questions pertaining to the study)
• Significant visual/hearing impairment that does not allow use of the MM app's audiovisual presentations or health education presentations on Ted-talk
• Use of any kind of meditation more than once a week in the last 3 months
• Inability to provide or obtain an email address for communication with study staff
• Inability to operate the app download or study related survey using a smartphone.