# A Randomized Trial of a Web-based Non-Pharmacological Pain Intervention for Pediatric Chronic Pancreatitis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2021 · $624,282

## Abstract

Project Summary
Abdominal pain is present in 81% of children and adolescents with chronic pancreatitis (CP). As pain becomes
more frequent and severe, it results in measurable declines in the children's health and creates economic
burden on families. Effective treatments that target pain in these children will lessen the risk of opioid exposure
and continued pain and disability into adulthood. There is evidence that psychological treatments, principally
cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT), can decrease pain and disability in children. However, even when
effective treatments have been validated, most children do not receive psychological intervention for chronic
pain management due to barriers that prevent access to treatment such as lack of trained clinicians, and
geographic distance to treatment centers. Alternative forms of treatment delivery through the Internet can
overcome these barriers. We have already made significant progress in developing and evaluating an internet-
delivered psychological intervention called Web-based Management of Adolescent Pain (WebMAP). Our
findings from a multicenter randomized controlled trial indicated that children in families that received this
intervention experienced significant improvements in pain-related disability, depression, and parent-perceived
impact of pain compared to children receiving patient education alone. The proposed project is designed to
apply our expertise in delivering Internet-based pain management programs to the largest cohort (INSPPIRE:
INternational Study Group of Pediatric Pancreatitis: In search for a cuRE) of well-phenotyped children with CP
to reduce pain, pain-related disability, and enhance health-related quality of life. The overall hypothesis of
this application is that web-based CBT will significantly improve pain, pain-related disability and
HRQOL. We plan to recruit a large multicenter sample of 260 children and adolescents (ages 10-17 years)
with CP and their parents from INSPPIRE centers to evaluate the efficacy of WebMAP. The study design is a
two (group) x three (time point) randomized, controlled, double-blinded trial. Participants will be randomly
assigned to receive online access to either patient education (WebED) or CBT (WebMAP) over an 8-10 week
treatment period. The primary study outcome is pain-related disability measured at pre-treatment, immediately
post-treatment, and at 6-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes include child reported pain, health-related
quality of life, depression and anxiety symptoms, and medication use. We will also evaluate genetic
polymorphisms, clinical, and behavioral phenotypic factors that predict treatment response. This project
represents a significant advance in pain management for children with CP by evaluating the first ever non-
pharmacologic pain intervention in these patients, which may guide future developments in the management of
chronic pain associated with CP. The long-term goal of this research program is to develop eff...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10165706
- **Project number:** 5R01DK118752-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Tonya M Palermo
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $624,282
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-15 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10165706

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10165706, A Randomized Trial of a Web-based Non-Pharmacological Pain Intervention for Pediatric Chronic Pancreatitis (5R01DK118752-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10165706. Licensed CC0.

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