Culturally and Structurally Adapted Chronic Pain Self-Management Program for Young Black Adults - PROJECT SUMMARY Pain disparities for U.S. Black adults are well documented, but prevention and treatment efforts rarely target young adults who make up 39% of the population. Our knowledge of pain prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes for young Black adults is very limited. They face significant structural barriers that may hinder them from receiving early and consistent pain treatment. Supporting young Black adults to manage their own pain can prevent pain-related disability and improve quality of life across the lifespan. But we lack critical data on young Black adults’ pain self-management practices and support needs. The Chronic Pain Self-Management Program (CPSMP) is the most widely disseminated and empirically investigated pain self-management education program in the U.S. Participants in the peer-led, workshop-based intervention report short-term improvements in pain severity, pain-related disability, and self-efficacy- making it ideal for advancing young Black adults’ pain self-management competency. But they under-enroll in the program presumably due to cultural incongruences, and inattention to the social determinants of health that increase pain in Black adults. Also, pain self-management interventions commonly exclude mind-body therapies proven to reduce pain severity and psychological comorbidities for Black adults. The goal of the K01 Award is to support Dr. De’Sha Wolf, an Early Career Social Scientist and KL2 Scholar at the Oregon Health and Science University, with establishing a community-based research agenda for improving pain self-management for young Black adults. A transdisciplinary team of mentors and collaborators will support her career development training in: mixed methods implementation science, participatory research with Black communities, pain medicine and culturally tailored mind-body therapies, and facilitation of behavioral health interventions. The research will be guided by an ecological approach to self-management. A Community Advisory Board will play a key role in achieving the following Specific Aims: 1) determine the clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and treatments young Black adults use for chronic pain; 2) identify young Black adults’ attitudes, use, and perceived effectiveness of pain self-management strategies, mind-body CAM preferences, and pain management support needs using mixed methods, and 3) culturally and structurally adapt the evidence-based CPSMP for young Black adults through collaboration with community. The K01 study will yield a protocolized intervention for chronic pain self-management that will be used for a future R-level feasibility study. The proposed study aligns with NCCIH’s top scientific priority, complementary and integrative management of pain, and NIH Stage Model 1A. It incorporates community-based research approaches that uplift young Black adults as experts of their own care, and contributes to studies incorporating culturally-tailored CAM therapies into coordinated pain management for Black adults. Achievement of the K01 objectives will position Dr. Wolf to pursue her long-term goal of using integrative medicine to create community-based solutions for chronic pain affecting Black adults.
