Presenters
- Gregory Beehler, PhD, MA, Associate Director for Research, VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, Buffalo, NY
- Katherine Dollar, PhD, ABPP, Associate Director of Education and Implementation, VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, NY
- Jennifer Funderburk, PhD, Clinical Research Psychologist, VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse, NY
- Dezarie Moskal, MS, Doctoral Psychology Intern, Baltimore VA Medical Center, Baltimore, MD
- Paul King, PhD, Clinical Research Psychologist, VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, Buffalo, NY
Summary
Chronic pain is a highly common yet debilitating condition that significantly impacts daily functioning and quality of life of primary care patients. Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) providers are in an ideal position to supplement standard biomedical pain management approaches by offering patient-centered psychosocial care. Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (Brief CBT-CP; Beehler, et al., 2021) was adapted from a full-length evidence-based protocol for chronic pain developed in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Brief CBT-CP addresses core psychoeducation about chronic pain, behavioral activation and pacing, cognitive skills, and relapse prevention strategies and is designed specifically by PCBH providers in up to six, 30-minute appointments. Brief CBT-CP effectiveness and patient satisfaction are supported by prior evaluation findings (Beehler, et al., 2019; Beehler, et al., in press). This presentation will provide practical guidance for frontline behavioral health providers working in the PCBH model to adopt Brief CBT-CP at their clinical sites. Guided by the Evidence-based System for Implementation Support (EBSIS; Wandersman, et al., 2012) model, we will review the tools, training, technical assistance strategies, and quality improvement processes for successful Brief CBT-CP implementation. Informed by real-world experiences of implementation among a national sample of VA PCBH providers, attendees will learn how to identify patients likely to benefit from treatment and how to use measurement-based care strategies for outcome monitoring and shared decision making. Strategies for adapting the Brief CBT-CP protocol for group medical visit format will also be reviewed. Through focused didactics, panel discussion, and audience questions, participants will leave this session with the necessary groundwork to guide their clinical team in adopting a feasible and empirically supported nonpharmacologic approach to chronic pain management.
Objectives
- Describe the Brief CBT-CP protocol and identify patients most likely to benefit from treatment
- Discuss how tools, training, technical assistance, and quality improvement strategies can be used to support Brief CBT-CP implementation
- Describe how Brief CBT-CP can be modified for use as a group medical visit.