Conclusions
pain
DISEASE
This psychological adherence program was based on HAPA-derived behavior change techniques and specifically designed for patients with moderate OAK to facilitate the uptake and maintenance of physical activity. Whereas levels of action planning significantly increased following the intervention, primary analyses did not yield beneficial effects of the PrevOP-PAP intervention on physical activity and limited effects on OAK symptoms (WOMAC), i.e., only a decrease in WOMAC-pain at the end of the study period emerged in exploratory follow-up analyses. Resembling meta-analytic findings on self-management programs for OAK, the PrevOP-PAP intervention might thus appear promising for improved disease management (e.g., coping with pain). However, as physical activity did not serve as a mediator of this exploratory finding, underlying mechanisms of improvements in pain still remain unclear. Future research should further investigate which intervention components of the PrevOP-PAP specifically targeted the patients’ pain management. Subsequently, the intervention program could be refined and provided as an m-health application on a large scale for patients with OAK.