Empowered Relief for Youth: Development, feasibility and early effectiveness of a single session pain relief skills class.
Laura E Simons, Lauren E Harrison, Rashmi P Bhandari et al.
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In 30 seconds
This single-arm clinical trial adapted Empowered Relief, a one-session pain-management class, for youth with chronic pain and assessed feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes. Of 236 youth referred from a tertiary pain clinic, 110 aged 10–18 years enrolled and completed the class. More than 80% rated it credible, acceptable, and feasible and anticipated clinically meaningful improvement. Participants reported improvements in pain interference, catastrophizing, and anxiety from baseline to 1 month, maintained through 3 months; pain self-efficacy improved at 1 month. The findings indicate promise but do not establish efficacy against a comparator.
Key findings
- More than 80% of participants rated the class credible, acceptable, and feasible and anticipated clinically meaningful improvement.
- Pain interference, pain catastrophizing, and anxiety improved from baseline to 1 month, with improvements observed through 3 months.
- Pain self-efficacy improved at 1-month follow-up.
- Pain interference improved more by 3 months among youth attending within 30 days of clinic evaluation than among those attending later.
Why it matters
A brief, skills-based class may offer a feasible behavioral support option for young people with chronic pain. The reported changes across pain-related outcomes suggest potential value beyond education alone, while the single-arm design means they cannot be attributed confidently to the class. The findings provide a basis for further evaluation of this youth-adapted approach.
What to keep in mind
The single-arm trial had no comparator, so observed changes cannot establish treatment efficacy. Outcomes were preliminary and follow-up was limited to 3 months.