A randomized trial of a pain management intervention for adults receiving substance use disorder treatment.

Background And Aims: Chronic pain is difficult to treat in individuals with substance use disorders and, when not resolved, can have a negative impact on substance use disorder treatment outcomes. This study tested the efficacy of a psychosocial pain management intervention, ImPAT (improving pain during addiction treatment), that combines pain management with content related to managing pain without substance use.

Design: Single-site, parallel-groups randomized controlled trial comparing ImPAT to a supportive psychoeducational control (SPC) condition; follow-up assessments occurred at 3, 6 and 12 months.

Setting: The Ann Arbor VA Substance Use Disorder treatment program, USA.

Participants: Veterans Health Administration patients {n = 129; mean [standard deviation (SD)], age = 51.7 (9.5); 115 of 129 (89%) male; ImPAT (n = 65); SPC (n = 64)}.

Intervention: ImPAT combines principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy and acceptance-based approaches to pain management with content related to avoiding the use of substances as a coping mechanism for pain. The SPC used a psychoeducational attention control treatment for alcoholism modified to cover other substances in addition to alcohol.

Measurements: Primary: Pain intensity over 12 months; secondary: pain-related functioning, frequency of alcohol and drug use over 12 months.

Findings: Primary: randomization to the ImPAT intervention versus SPC predicted significantly lower pain intensity {β [standard error (SE)] = -0.71 (0.29); 95% confidence interval (CI) = -1.29, -0.12}; secondary: relative to the SPC condition, those who received ImPAT also reported improved pain-related functioning [β (SE) = 0.27 (0.11); 95% CI = 0.05, 0.49] and lower frequency of alcohol consumption [β (SE) = -0.77; 95% CI = -1.34, -0.20]. No differences were found between conditions on frequency of drug use over follow-up.

Conclusions: For adults with pain who are enrolled in addictions treatment, receipt of a psychological pain management intervention (improving pain during addiction treatment) reduced pain and alcohol use and improves pain-related functioning over 12 months relative to a matched-attention control condition.