# Initial Evidence for a Brief Psychological Telehealth Intervention for Patients with Chronic Masticatory Muscle Pain

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · 2024 · $125,910

## Abstract

Chronic masticatory muscle pain disorders (MMPD) affect between 5-12% of the population, are the second
most common musculoskeletal pain conditions after chronic low back pain, and are associated with
management costs of over $4 billion per year, presenting a serious public health issue. Multidisciplinary care
combining dental care with psychological interventions appears to offer the best prognosis. Physical self-
regulation (PSR) is a brief, two-session psychological intervention that has been shown to lead to long-term
reductions in pain intensity over standard dental care alone in patients with chronic MMPD. Unfortunately,
treatment utilization for PSR is low when it is offered in-person, with fewer than 50% of eligible patients
choosing to begin treatment. Offering PSR over telehealth (PSR-TH) may help address this issue, with
preliminary data demonstrating >80% treatment utilization for PSR-TH. A full-scale trial is needed to test the
efficacy of PSR-TH and 1) determine if PSR-TH effects are due to the intervention itself or to nonspecific
treatment effects and 2) determine moderators and mediators of treatment effects. However, additional data
are needed before such a trial can be conducted. The goal of this proposal is to obtain data to support a future
full-scale Phase II efficacy trial by achieving the following specific aims. First, PSR-TH and a control
intervention need to be formally piloted in patients with MMPD to determine recruitment and retention rates,
interventionist fidelity, and patient-reported acceptability, credibility, and burden of the interventions (Aim 1).
Second, we need to identify potential moderators and mediators of PSR-TH so that we can focus on
thoroughly assessing those specific variables in the future trial (Aim 2). Treatment-seeking females with
chronic MMPD will be randomly assigned to two 50-min telehealth sessions of PSR-TH or a control
intervention (N=52/group) and will provide biopsychosocial moderator data (week 0), treatment feasibility data
immediately following the intervention (week 3), mediation data two weeks following the intervention (week 5),
and outcome data (pain intensity, pain interference, and quality of life) two weeks and three months following
the intervention (weeks 5 and 15). We hypothesize that both PSR-TH and the control intervention will
demonstrate strong feasibility (i.e., recruitment of at least 1 participant per week, >75% retention, >95%
interventionist fidelity, and adequate acceptability, credibility, and burden). We also hypothesize that specific
biopsychosocial variables will moderate PSR-related changes in outcomes, and that PSR-TH-related changes
in perceived control over pain, self-efficacy, coping, parafunctional habits, and relaxation will mediate treatment
effects. In addition to supporting a future efficacy trial of PSR-TH, the proposed project will leverage my
previous training, a collaborative environment at the University of Kentucky, and the expertise of world-...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10892017
- **Project number:** 5K23DE031807-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ian Andres Boggero
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $125,910
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10892017

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10892017, Initial Evidence for a Brief Psychological Telehealth Intervention for Patients with Chronic Masticatory Muscle Pain (5K23DE031807-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10892017. Licensed CC0.

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