Study Procedure
chronic pain
CHRONIC PAIN
Patients living with chronic pain were verbally informed about the EPIO study by collaborating partners or through flyers at various health care sites. If interested, the patient’s contact information was forwarded to the project team, who then provided additional information about study participation to those interested. Patients could also contact the study staff directly through a study phone number or website. Study information was also published on social media (eg, Facebook), and these posts were frequently republished by individuals or patient organizations.All participants provided written informed consent before completing the baseline outcome measures through a secure research server at the Services for Sensitive Data (The intervention group participated in a face-to-face introduction session where they received (1) an introduction to the EPIO intervention program, (2) help to download the EPIO app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and (3) guidance on how to use the program. The introduction session was initially planned to be an in-person session but was also provided digitally (ie, videoconference) as of spring 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.The study period was 3 months after the introduction session. The intervention group received follow-up phone calls from the members of the project team at approximately 3 and 7 weeks with standard questions about status (eg, to see how the use of the EPIO program was going and whether they had any use-related questions). The project team could also be contacted through the project study phone for questions or technical assistance. System use was logged, and outcome measures were completed through the secure research server. Participants completing at least 6 (67%) of the total 9 EPIO modules during the study period were defined as program completers for study purposes [