The Lighten Your Life Program: An Educational Support Group Intervention That Used a Mobile App for Managing Depressive Symptoms and Chronic Pain
Abstract
An educational support group, The Lighten Your Life Program, was developed for adult patients who self-reported depressive symptoms and had one or more comorbid chronic pain condition. Using a mixed methods, pilot design, the purpose of the current study was to test the feasibility of The Lighten Your Life Program, which combined depression education with in-person group support every 2 weeks. The Lighten Your Life Program also encouraged the use of Pacifica, a mobile application (app), as a self-management tool. Another aim was to explore what effect The Lighten Your Life Program had on decreasing depression severity. Statistically significant differences in Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scores were noted over time. Educational support group programs and the use of mobile apps, such as Pacifica, could be beneficial in helping individuals self-manage their depressive symptoms and chronic pain condition. [ Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57 (7), 39–47.]
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The advent of telemedicine and mHealth technologies has offered ways to help monitor and assess patient treatment response, adherence to opioid therapy recommendations, and mood among persons with chronic pain.
“The advent of telemedicine and mHealth (mobile health) technologies has offered ways to help monitor and assess patient treatment response, adherence to opioid therapy recommendations, and mood among persons with chronic pain.67–69”
From Risk Factors for Self-Harm Ideation among Persons Treated with Opioids for Chronic Low Back Pain (2023) · cites this paper as [68]
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- Authors
- Ventura, J., & Chung, J.
- ORCID
- Chung, Joohyun
- Venue
- Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services
- Publisher
- SLACK, Inc.
- Published
- 2019-07
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 39-47
- ISSN
- 0279-3695 (ISSN-L)
- 1938-2413
- OpenAlex
- W2922913586
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 1.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Keywords
- depressive symptoms, chronic pain, depression education, support groups, mobile health apps, self-management, depression severity, feasibility
- MeSH terms
- Chronic Disease, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Education as Topic, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Self-Help Groups, Self Report, Chronic Pain, Mobile Applications
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