Improving Pain Self-Management Among Rural Older Adults With Cancer.

Importance: Undertreated cancer pain is a major public health concern among older adults in rural communities. Interventions to improve pain management among this vulnerable population are needed. Objective: To test the feasibility, acceptability, and changes in pain outcomes from exposure to an adapted intervention, Cancer Health Empowerment for Living without Pain (CA-HELP), to improve patients' communication about pain to their clinicians. Design, Setting, and Participants: Older adults with cancer (aged ≥65 years) who were residing in a noninstitutional rural setting and receiving outpatient care at a rural-based clinic in Tennessee were enrolled in the study, in which everyone received the intervention, in May 2022. All patients were given assessments at baseline and 1 week after intervention. Mean score differences were analyzed using 1-tailed paired sample t tests (α = .05). Data were analyzed in June 2022. Exposure: The adapted version of CA-HELP included an 18-page patient-facing workbook and a 30-minute telephone coaching call with a registered nurse to coach patients on pain education and communication techniques to discuss pain with their medical team. Main Outcomes and Measures: Feasibility was examined through accrual and completion rates. Acceptability was measured by helpfulness, difficulty, and satisfaction with the intervention. Changes in outcomes were measured using mean score differences from pre-post assessments of pain self-management, self-efficacy for communicating with clinicians about pain, patient-reported pain, and misconceptions about pain. Results: Among the 30 total participants, the mean (SD) age was 73.0 (5.1) years; 17 participants (56.7%) were female, 5 (16.7%) were Black or African American, 30 (100%) were non-Hispanic or non-Latino, 24 (80.0%) were White, 16 (53.3%) had less than a high school education, and 15 (50.0%) reported income less than $21 000 per year. Based on accrual and completion rates of 100%, this intervention was highly feasible. Fidelity rates for delivering intervention components (100%) and communication competence (27 participants [90%]) were also high. Regarding acceptability, all patients rated the intervention as helpful, with the majority (24 participants [80%]) rating it as "very helpful." Most patients rated the intervention as "not at all difficult" (27 participants [90%]), enjoyed participating (21 participants [70%]), and reported being "very satisfied" (25 participants [83.3%]). Pre-post changes in outcomes suggested significant improvements in pain self-management and self-efficacy for communicating with clinicians about pain, as well as significant reductions in patient-reported pain and pain misconceptions. Conclusions and Relevance: In this case-series study of CA-HELP, results suggested the adapted version of CA-HELP was feasible and acceptable and showed changes in pain-related outcome measures among older adults with cancer in a rural setting.