# Pilot of Peers Enhancing Engagement for Pain Services

> **NIH VA I21** · VA CONNECTICUT HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · 2023 · —

## Abstract

Background: Chronic pain, and particularly high-impact chronic pain (that is, pain last three months or longer
that impacts daily functioning in one or more domains) is a leading cause of disability, often associated with
declining functioning, lost days of work, and worsened quality of life. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
identified both improved pain management and reduced opioid-related harms as national priorities, with an
emphasis on improving function and pain-related disability. Peer specialists may be an untapped and valuable
resource to support Veterans with chronic pain and enhance the effectiveness of pain treatment. Peer
specialists are individuals with lived experience who work with Veterans to encourage patient activation and
help patients manage chronic conditions. Peer specialists work in a variety of clinical settings, most commonly
mental health clinics, and are well-suited to help patients who are harder to engage in services or those
needing more support to promote self-management strategies. Peer support is particularly effective for patients
with more severe illnesses or higher levels of distress, and thus may be helpful for Veterans with high-impact
chronic pain.
Significance: Chronic pain is one of the most common and costly problems among Veterans using VHA
healthcare. VHA guidelines for pain management and opioid therapy encourage non-pharmacological pain
management strategies (NPMs) and non-opioid medications for chronic pain management. However, NPMs
that emphasize improved pain-related function are often underutilized. Addressing pain management and
opioid misuse are VHA priorities and this research directly aligns with VHA Rehabilitation Research &
Development (RR&D) priorities, including promotion of non-pharmacological activity-based interventions for
chronic pain, impacting outcomes such as pain; it also aligns with RR&D’s broader goal of maximizing
Veteran’s function and quality of life.
Innovation & Impact: The role of peer specialists in VHA is rapidly expanding beyond traditional mental health
settings, leading to an urgent need for additional research to understand how best to use peer specialists’
unique skills to enhance care for Veterans in a wider range of settings. No studies to date have evaluated the
use of peer specialists to support improvements in pain-related function among Veterans with chronic pain.
The current proposal is innovative because it proposes, for the first time, using peer specialists to focus on
pain management. If proven effective, this project could pave the way for widespread implementation of peer
specialists into new settings where they can support pain management.
Specific Aims: The specific aims of this project are to (1) Use intervention mapping (IM) to refine our
intervention, Peers Enhancing Engagement for Pain Services (PEEPS) and (2) Pilot test the feasibility and
acceptability of PEEPS and collect function-focused outcome measures for use in a rigorous prospect...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10700218
- **Project number:** 1I21RX004381-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VA CONNECTICUT HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Sara Edmond
- **Activity code:** I21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-02-01 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10700218

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10700218, Pilot of Peers Enhancing Engagement for Pain Services (1I21RX004381-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10700218. Licensed CC0.

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