# Partners for Pain & Wellbeing Equity: A Randomized Trial of Community Supported Complementary and Integrative Health Self Management for Back Pain

> **NIH NIH R61** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2022 · $1,528,227

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY. Back pain (BP), including low back and neck pain, is one of the most prevalent and disabling
pain disorders. Most cases remain poorly managed and known socio-ecological factors that pose barriers to equitable care
have been especially under-addressed resulting in critical disparities in BP management. This is evidenced by Black and
Hispanic Americans, and individuals with less education and income, consistently experiencing poorer outcomes.
Importantly, BP, like other chronic conditions, requires ongoing self-management. Unfortunately, most care offered
through health systems fails to support sufferers’ self-care, and instead focuses on costly and provider-dependent therapies
with little supporting research evidence. The persistent use of these practices contradicts evidence-based BP guideline
recommendations for less invasive complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches which can support self-care.
Importantly, our team has demonstrated CIH approaches can be safely and effectively delivered in non-clinical settings in
both in person and video-conferencing formats which can overcome barriers contributing to disparities.
The long-term objective is to bolster the widespread implementation of evidence-based CIH approaches that support
whole person oriented, self-care for individuals with back pain and who are from populations that experience health
disparities (BP-PEHD). We will use a two-phase project that applies established models and frameworks for facilitating
long term sustainability to develop, feasibility test, and evaluate the effectiveness of a community supported CIH self-
management program, Partners4Pain compared to an active control, Keys to Wellbeing. This project builds upon our
team’s extensive background in BP and CIH self-management research and established partnerships with community and
health organizations with broad and diverse reach including the YMCA, YWCA, and others.
Phase I (R61) will involve planning and preparations leading to a randomized feasibility study (n=40) including co-
development and assessment of Partners4Pain, a self-management program comprised of evidence based CIH approaches
(e.g. pain education, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral/pain coping strategies, exercise).
Phase II (R33) includes a full-scale multi-level randomized hybrid effectiveness implementation trial (n=376) of the
community supported self-management program, Partners4Pain compared to the active control, Keys to Wellbeing, both
of which will have been optimized and feasibility tested in Phase I.
By co-developing scalable evidence based CIH interventions with community stakeholders that can be delivered in an
accessible manner by community partner organizations with extensive reach, we will remove an important barrier that
currently exists within the costly and burdensome health care systems. This approach has the potential for larger scale
implementation across a range of community-based organizations and settings, ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10538202
- **Project number:** 1R61AT012309-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** RONI L. EVANS
- **Activity code:** R61 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1,528,227
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-19 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10538202

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10538202, Partners for Pain & Wellbeing Equity: A Randomized Trial of Community Supported Complementary and Integrative Health Self Management for Back Pain (1R61AT012309-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10538202. Licensed CC0.

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