Empowered Relief for Youth (ER-Y)

The purpose of this pilot study is to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of Empowered Relief for Youth with chronic pain (ER-Y). ER-Y is a single-session pain management class for youth focused on pain science education and teaching self-regulatory skills for pain management based on the evidence-based adult ER class. Feasibility and acceptability of ER-Y will be assessed post-class. Preliminary efficacy will be assessed by administering surveys at baseline, 4-weeks, 8-weeks, and 12-weeks post class.

The current proposed, single-arm, uncontrolled pilot study will determine a) feasibility of ER-Y in youth with chronic pain, b) patients' perceptions and satisfaction of the ER-Y class and c) preliminary efficacy to inform the design of a subsequent randomized controlled trial.

Chronic Pain, Musculoskeletal Pain, Fibromyalgia, Neuropathic Pain, Complex Regional Pain Syndromes, Abdominal Pain

Empowered Relief for Youth is a single-session pain management class focused on pain science education and teaching self-regulatory skills for pain management based on the evidence-based adult ER class.

The Empowered Relief for Youth is a 90-minute class that provides pain science education, as well as cognitive, emotional, and physiologic self-regulation skills for youth with chronic pain. Youth will also develop a personalized plan to use the acquired skills daily. Participants will receive an audio file (Relaxation Response) post-class. The class provides patients rapid access to actionable skills for symptom management and pain relief.

The TEC-C assess treatment expectations and credibility with standardized sum scores from using a numeric rating scale (score 0 = "not at all" to 10 = "very much") with a higher score indicating high expectations.

The Program Feedback Scale assesses participants agreement to seven statements indicating their perceived acceptability and feasibility based on a scale (score 0 = "really disagree" to 4 = "really agree") with a higher score indicating positive feedback and two open ended questions.

The PROMIS Pain Interference form assesses to what level pain hinders their engagement in several activities using a ranked scale (score 0 = "never" to 4 = "almost always") with a higher score indicating great pain interference.

The Pain Global Impression of Change survey asks participants to rank how their overall pain has changed since the start of study using a ranked scale (score 0 = "very much improved" to 6 = "very much worse") with higher scores indicating greater severity to their pain.

The Pain Catastrophizing Scale -Child Version (PCS-C, Crombez et al., 2003) assesses negative cognitions associated with pain. The PCS-C is comprised of 13-items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (score 0= "not at all true" to 4 "very true"). A total score (0-52) is obtained by summing all items. Higher scores indicate higher levels of catastrophic thinking.

The Child Pain Self- Efficacy Scale assesses the participants self-efficacy with regard to normal functioning when in pain based on a ranked scale (score 1 = "very sure" to 5 = "very unsure") with higher scores indicating enhanced uncertainty.

The PROMIS anxiety study assesses fear, fear, misery, hyperarousal, and somatic symptoms related to arousal within the past seven days. Each item is scored on a 1-5 rating scale (score 1 = "never" to 5 = "almost always") with higher scores indicating greater experience to anxiety.

The PROMIS depression study assesses symptoms related to depression within the past seven days. Each item is scored on a 1-5 rating scale (score 1 = "never" to 5 = "almost always") with higher scores indicating greater depressive symptoms.

The Hope Scale assess the participant's hope level based on a ranked scale (score 1 = "definitely false" to 8 = "definitely true") with a higher score indicating highly hopeful.

Inclusion Criteria: Age at least 10 years old to 18 years Diagnosis of Chronic Pain English speaking Exclusion Criteria: Diagnosis of neurological conditions such as seizures, cerebral palsy, developmental delay Severe affective disorder (e.g., severe depression/ anxiety) from medical record review.