ArticlePain medicine (Malden, Mass.)2021
ACTsmart: Guided Smartphone-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Pain-A Pilot Trial.
Article in Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- User Engagement With mHealth Interventions to Promote Treatment Adherence and Self-Management in People With Chronic Health Conditions: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Factors Influencing Adherence to mHealth Apps for Prevention or Management of Noncommunicable Diseases: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Pooled it
- Technology-supported Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for chronic health conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Behaviour research and therapy · 2022Pooled it
- Smartphone-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Postmastectomy Pain Syndrome: A Pilot RCT Evaluating Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Clinical Outcomes.Journal of pain research · 2026Trial
- Design and implementation of online acceptance and commitment therapy with enhanced therapist support for chronic low back pain (ACT for PAIN).Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2025Trial
- Digital Therapeutic for Hwa-Byung (Korean Culture-Related Anger Syndrome) Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Pilot Feasibility Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Development and Pilot Testing of a Mobile App Psychosocial Intervention for Psychological Distress in Individuals with Glaucoma.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Digital Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Lifestyle Change in Overweight Pregnant Women: A Feasibility Pilot Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Reviewing the Potential Role of Artificial Intelligence in Delivering Personalized and Interactive Pain Medicine Education for Chronic Pain Patients.Journal of pain research · 2024Review
- Refocusing of Attention on Positive Events Using Monitoring-Based Feedback and Microinterventions for Patients With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in the PerPAIN Randomized Controlled Trial: Protocol for a Microrandomized Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Baseline Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine Levels Moderate Psychological Inflexibility in Behavioral Treatment for Chronic Pain.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of digital application use in clinical research in pain medicine.Frontiers in digital health · 2022Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a behavioral health intervention with strong empirical support for chronic pain but, to date, widespread dissemination is limited. Digital solutions improve access to care and can be integrated into patients' everyday lives.
objectiveACTsmart, a guided smartphone-delivered ACT intervention, was developed to improve the accessibility of an evidence-based behavioral treatment for chronic pain. In the present study, we evaluated the preliminary efficacy of ACTsmart in adults with chronic pain.
methodsThe study was an open-label pilot trial. The treatment lasted for 8 weeks, and participants completed all outcome measures at pretreatment and posttreatment and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups, with weekly assessments of selected measures during treatment. The primary outcome was pain interference. The secondary outcomes were psychological flexibility, values, insomnia, anxiety, depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life, and pain intensity. All outcomes were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models.
resultsThe sample consisted of 34 adults (88% women) with long-standing chronic pain (M=20.4 years, SD=11.7). Compliance to treatment was high, and at the end of treatment, we observed a significant improvement in the primary outcome of pain interference (d = -1.01). All secondary outcomes significantly improved from pretreatment to posttreatment with small to large effect sizes. Improvements were maintained throughout 12 months of follow-up.
conclusionThe results of this pilot study provide preliminary support for ACTsmart as an accessible and effective behavioral health treatment for adults with chronic pain and warrant a randomized controlled trial to further evaluate the efficacy of the intervention.
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