Conclusions
pain, PTSD, CM, chronic pain, WL, HHV
CHRONIC PAIN, RECRUITMENT
The remote recruitment, onboarding, and data collection processes made this protocol potentially challenging for medically complex populations managing chronic pain and PTSD, warranting special considerations for future trials. Increasing access to nonpharmacological interventions can play a critical role in helping individuals manage pain and PTSD. Disseminating recruitment and attrition challenges, solutions, and lessons learned are critical to informing best practices when addressing the unique needs of medically complex patient populations when delivering remote self-directed CIH interventions. Successful enrollment of veterans with chronic pain and PTSD, and their partners, to remote CIH treatments requires future examination of demographic and symptom-associated access barriers. Strategies for accommodating barriers are essential for improving the effectiveness of CIH programs. Characteristics of successfully enrolled participants inform target populations who can be best served by remote CIH. Disseminating lessons learned and improving access to remotely delivered CIH programs is paramount in the COVID-19 climate.The Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Rehabilitation Research & Development Service (822-MR-35876) supported the development of this manuscript. ChatGPT or any other generative AI was not used in the development of manuscript content. The contents of this manuscript do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. Government.Authors' Contributions: JNH led the conception of the study, acquired funding, and supervised project activities including manuscript development. JNH, HHV, CAF, ACA, NBA, SAK, WL, and DDF developed methodology design and performed data analysis and curation. HHV, CAF, ACA, TS, and CM contributed to software development. LMB led project administration and RCB designed data visualizations. All authors contributed to the development and revision of the final manuscript. The Corresponding Author, as a US government employee, has the right to grant on behalf of all authors and does grant on behalf of all authors, a nonexclusive worldwide license to the publishers and its licensees in perpetuity, in all forms, formats, and media (whether known now or created in the future), to (1) publish, reproduce, distribute, display and store the Contribution, (2) translate the Contribution into other languages, create adaptations, reprints, include within collections and create summaries, extracts and, abstracts of the Contribution, (3) create any other derivative works based on the contribution, (4) to exploit all subsidiary rights in the Contribution, (5) the inclusion of electronic links from the Contribution to third party material where-ever it may be located; and (6) licensee any third party to do any or all of the above.Conflicts of Interest: None declared.CONSORT-EHEALTH (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials of Electronic and Mobile Health Applications and Online Telehealth) checklist.Promotional flyer for Mission Reconnect recruitment.Inclusion and exclusion criteria for veteran-partner dyad responses to recruitment efforts.Mission Reconnect interview guide.