Optimizing delivery of a behavioral pain intervention in cancer patients using a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial SMART.

ABSTRACT:

Background/aims

Pain is common in cancer patients and results in lower quality of life, depression, poor physical functioning, financial difficulty, and decreased survival time. Behavioral pain interventions are effective and nonpharmacologic. Traditional randomized controlled trials (RCT) test interventions of fixed time and dose, which poorly represent successive treatment decisions in clinical practice. We utilize a novel approach to conduct a RCT, the sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) design, to provide comparative evidence of: 1) response to differing initial doses of a pain coping skills training (PCST) intervention and 2) intervention dose sequences adjusted based on patient response. We also examine: 3) participant characteristics moderating interventi

SUBMITTER: Kelleher SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5681223 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature