This study will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of DockTales, a mobile health tool designed for adults with chronic pain. DockTales supports pain and sleep tracking through brief diaries, body-map pain reporting, reflective journaling, visual summaries, and optional AI-supported interaction. The study will be conducted completely remotely. Participants will complete 2 weeks of DockTales use and 2 weeks of REDCap-based daily monitoring, with the order randomized. The main goal is to determine whether DockTales is usable, acceptable, engaging, and practical for adults with chronic pain compared with standard REDCap monitoring.

This is a fully remote, randomized crossover pilot clinical trial designed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of DockTales among adults with chronic pain. Chronic pain is defined as pain lasting for more than 3 months. A total of up to 60 participants will be enrolled.

Participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to one of two study sequences. Participants assigned to Sequence 1 will complete 2 weeks of DockTales use followed by 2 weeks of REDCap-based daily monitoring. Participants assigned to Sequence 2 will complete 2 weeks of REDCap-based daily monitoring followed by 2 weeks of DockTales use. All participants will complete both study conditions.

Participants will complete questionnaires at baseline, after the first 2-week period, and after the second 2-week period. These assessments will evaluate feasibility, acceptability, usability, burden, engagement, technical issues, participant preference, and exploratory pain and sleep-related outcomes. Some participants may also complete an optional remote semi-structured interview after finishing both study conditions.

The primary outcomes are feasibility and acceptability. Feasibility will be assessed through recruitment, retention, adherence, completion of DockTales use, completion of REDCap monitoring, missing data, and technical issues. Acceptability will be assessed through satisfaction, engagement, perceived usefulness, ease of use, burden, willingness to use DockTales again, and preference between DockTales and REDCap monitoring.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ( 18-88 years old)
• English speaker (written and spoken)
• Chronic pain for at least 3 months
• Smartphone/text messaging capability

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any personal history of mania, schizophrenia, or other psychoses
• Severe psychiatric condition (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, autism) leading to hospitalization within the last 3 years.
• Pregnancy or breast feeding
• Impaired or uncorrected hearing

The study team has not yet determined whether individual participant data will be shared. This pilot study will collect sensitive health-related data and DockTales free-text interaction data, which may inadvertently include identifiable information. Any future sharing would be limited to de-identified data, would exclude direct identifiers and raw free-text data unless appropriately redacted, and would occur only after IRB approval and in accordance with institutional policies.

Both the experimenter and participants know the interventions (DockTales and REDCap). The outcome assessor will be blinded about the study conditions.