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Nurse-Delivered Brief Pain Relief Skills Treatment in Rural Communities

Award Number: R01NR022262
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NURSING RESEARCH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/19/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2031

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Nurse-Delivered Brief Pain Relief Skills Treatment in Rural Communities - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Chronic pain creates a higher burden on individuals in rural communities where fewer resources are available to treat pain. Novel solutions are needed that are cost-effective and scalable. The long-term objective of this project is to improve chronic pain management for adults living in rural communities by training registered nurses (RNs) living in those communities to deliver a brief, evidence-based, 1-session pain relief skills class (Empowered Relief; ER) live and online. The primary objective of this application is to conduct a rigorous 2-arm randomized controlled trial in 3 geographically distinct rural primary care clinics. We will enroll 400 adults with chronic pain of any type and randomize them using block randomization, stratified by site, to receive either skills- based ER or a no-skills Health Education (HE) intervention to achieve our specific aims. Building on our preliminary research training RNs as Certified ER Instructors, our approach is to use a Community of Practice training model to prepare nurses to deliver pain management content that is normally administered by psychologists. Because 4.9 million RNs are already embedded in U.S. communities, compared to 80,000 licensed psychologists, we anticipate this nurse-delivered approach will transcend many barriers to behavioral pain care that currently exist (e.g., lack of trained therapists, travel, cost). Our proposed study will determine the efficacy of nurse-delivered ER compared to Health Education (HE) by 1) assessing multi-primary outcomes of pain intensity and pain interference and secondary outcomes of pain catastrophizing, pain self-efficacy, and relaxation response at 3 months (primary endpoint) and 6 months post-intervention; 2) elucidating mediators and moderators of treatment response, including level of education and pain impact (high vs. low)); and, 3) characterizing facilitators and barriers to rural online brief pain relief skills treatment using data from quantitative and open-ended survey items collected at 1 week and 3 months post-treatment. Our proposal will utilize existing and embedded primary care RNs to provide efficient, low-risk, pain care to rural populations in the settings where they receive their care. This approach is innovative because it will support broad change in systems and models of care, scaling RN-delivered ER treatment to improve pain treatment outcomes among rural residents who need it the most. These contributions are significant because they will result in strong multi-site efficacy data on an intervention that has the potential to significantly improve lives and, potentially, reduce risks of opioids by providing a safe and effective alternative in under-resourced communities. Significant health and societal benefits can be obtained through understanding how to meet the needs of the millions of Americans living in rural communities with pain.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $621,327 )
2026	2026	WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY	240 FRENCH ADMINISTRATION BLDG	PULLMAN	WA	99164	WHITMAN	USA	Nursing Research	000	1	8/20/2026	NEW	$621,327
														Subtotal = $621,327

Grand Total All Awards = $621,327

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Nurse-Delivered Brief Pain Relief Skills Treatment in Rural Communities

Award Number: R01NR022262

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NURSING RESEARCH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/19/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2031

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