1. Supported in part by Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield
and the Office of the Arkansas Drug Director and in partnership with the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the Arkansas Medical Society (AMS), the Arkansas State Medical Board (ASMB), the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) and its Division of Substance Misuse and Injury Prevention (Prescription Drug Monitoring Program—PDMP)
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2. (High Quality) Smartphone Applications for Pain Self-Management
Michael A. Cucciare, PhD
Psychologist, Women’s Mental Health Program
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Text MICHAELCUCCI335 to join

3. Today’s Goals
Describe the importance of pain self-management in improving pain outcomes
Present the ways smartphone applications (apps) can help patients self-manage pain
Present examples of high quality smartphone apps for pain self-management

5. Importance of Pain Self-Management
Evidence-based mental health interventions are helpful but vast majority of chronic pain patients fail to receive them
Strong evidence exists for pain self-management – improved pain symptoms and disability
Integration into clinical practice is slow
Most patients don’t receive education needed to promote pain self-management

6. Smartphone Apps Can Help
Help patients take an active role in managing their pain (at their convenience)
Real time access to:
Coping strategies
Self-monitoring of pain and functioning
Setting of achievable goals related to pain
Developing a tailored self-management plan based on goals

7. Smartphone Apps for Pain
There are over 100 pain-related apps available for download on personal mobile devices (most for Iphone)
Primary app functions include:
education
self-monitoring
skills training (e.g., improving sleep and mood; reducing stress)

8. Pain Medicine Review (2014)
Searched for apps that were focused on broad pain management (not individual forms of pain or specific conditions)
Apps needed to allow people to record pain episodes, record pain at any location, save their records, be available in English
Identified 12 apps

9. Examples of High Quality Smartphone Apps
Clinical - details of pain,
associated symptoms, timing, exacerbating and relieving factors, reports for doctor
Interface - logical layout, ease of reading and legibility
Usability - navigation, accessibility, security, and interactivity
Taken from Reynoldson et al. (2014) Assessing the quality and usability of smartphone apps for pain self-management. Pain Medicine, 15,

10. My Pain Diary (Apple) - mypaindiary.com

11. Track and Share (Apple) https://tracknshareapp.com/symptom-tracker/
-Health
-Mood
-Sleep
-Food
-Gratitude diary
-Relationships among factors

12. Manage My Pain (Android) https://www.managinglife.com/

14. Take Away
Smartphone apps can help patients with various aspects of pain self-management
Can help facilitate patient-provider conversations about pain
Assess impact of different treatments
High quality apps available on the market for Apple and Android

15. Questions about the Topic
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16. Case Conference and Feedback
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