# Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain to Improve Functional Outcomes amongPrimary Care Veterans

> **NIH VA I01** · VA WESTERN NEW YORK HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · 2024 · —

## Abstract

National guidelines, such as those from the Centers for Disease Control, recommend psychological therapies
over opioid therapy as a preferred first line treatment for chronic pain. Behavioral health providers embedded in
primary care as part of the VA’s national Primary Care-Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) program are well-
positioned to support Veterans with pain by delivering treatments to improve functional recovery. Cognitive
behavioral therapy for chronic pain is widely recognized as a safe and effective psychological treatment.
However, this treatment is typically a lengthy psychotherapy (≥10, 50-minute sessions) designed for
specialized care settings. In contrast, PCMHI services are brief and time-limited (≤6, 30-minute sessions) to be
consistent with primary care services that treat a high volume of patients. To extend the reach of treatment to
primary care Veterans who present with a pain concern, we have developed a PCMHI-based version titled
Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (Brief CBT-CP). Brief CBT-CP condenses content into
only six sessions organized around the 30-minute appointment structure used by PCMHI providers. Brief CBT-
CP was recently evaluated in a clinical demonstration project that found a statistically and clinically significant
decrease in a composite measure of pain intensity and pain-related activity interreference following treatment.
On average, the majority of improvement was achieved in the first three sessions of treatment signaling that
Brief CBT-CP can potentially produce rapid clinical benefit. Our funded RR&D SPiRE (in progress) indicates
the high feasibility of our trial methods as we frequently exceeded planned monthly recruitment goals with high
retention. Additionally, patients have reported high levels of treatment satisfaction and PCMHI providers report
that Brief CBT-CP is an important and feasible intervention. Based on these preliminary studies, this
application proposes to conduct a single-blind, double-arm, randomized controlled trial among [178] Veterans
with chronic musculoskeletal pain and pain-related functional impairment who receive primary care services at
the VA Western New York Healthcare System. Veterans will be randomized to either (1) Brief CBT-CP and
primary care treatment as usual (TAU) or (2) TAU only. Patient data will be collected at baseline, mid-treatment
(6-week), post-treatment (12-week), and follow-up (6-month) to evaluate through multilevel modeling if Brief
CBT-CP produces a rapid decrease in pain-related activity interference (primary outcome). Secondary clinical
outcomes (pain intensity, depression symptoms, suicidal ideation, quality of life, and social role engagement)
will be assessed in the same manner. The second goal of the study is to assess potential treatment mediators
(i.e., pain self-efficacy and catastrophizing) and moderators (i.e., demographic factors, treatment expectations,
opioid and adjunctive treatment use, therapeutic alliance) to d...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10909888
- **Project number:** 5I01RX003485-04
- **Recipient organization:** VA WESTERN NEW YORK HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Gregory P Beehler
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10909888

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10909888, Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain to Improve Functional Outcomes amongPrimary Care Veterans (5I01RX003485-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10909888. Licensed CC0.

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