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Peer-reviewedCC BYCanadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur

Impacts of the iCanCope Digital Pain Self-Management Program Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Chronic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

  • Chitra Lalloo1,2
  • Fareha Nishat1
  • Tonya Palermo3,4
  • Lori Montgomery5
  • Fiona Campbell6
  • Krista Baerg7
  • Jill Chorney8
  • Bruce Dick9
  • Tania Di Renna10
  • Karim Mukhida11
  • Melanie Noel12
  • Patricia Poulin13,14,15
12 more authors
  • Mark Simmonds9
  • Ramesh Zacharias16
  • Lauren Harris1
  • Cleo Davies-Chalmers1
  • Carley Ouellette17
  • Vina Mohabir1,2
  • Quynh Pham18
  • Joe Cafazzo18
  • Sarah Brennenstuhl19
  • Brenna McDermott1
  • Rachel Kelly1
  • Jennifer N Stinson1,19
19 affiliations
  1. 1The Hospital for Sick Children, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  2. 2Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  3. 3Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA.
  4. 4Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA.
  5. 5Departments of Family Medicine and Anesthesiology, Peri-operative and Pain Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
  6. 6Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  7. 7Department of Pediatrics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
  8. 8Centre for Pediatric Pain Research, IWK Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
  9. 9Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
  10. 10Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute, Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  11. 11Department of Anesthesia, Pain Management & Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
  12. 12Alberta Children's Hospital, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
  13. 13Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
  14. 14Department of Psychology, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
  15. 15Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
  16. 16Michael G. DeGroote Pain Clinic, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
  17. 17School of Nursing, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
  18. 18Center for Digital Therapeutics, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  19. 19Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Abstract

iCanCope™ (ICC) is a digital self-management program for 15-25 year olds with chronic pain. This study evaluated program satisfaction and efficacy through a two arm randomized controlled trial in Canadian tertiary care pain clinics. Participants were randomized to receive either ICC (app and website with symptom tracking and trending, pain education, goal setting, library, community forum) or an identically branded active control program with limited features. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, postprogram (2 months; T2), and follow-up (6 months; T3). Satisfaction was assessed using the Acceptability eScale and qualitatively with a subset of intervention participants. Linear mixed effects models characterized treatment effects on primary (pain interference) and secondary outcomes. Of 302 enrolled participants, 297 were analyzed (mean age = 17.1 ± 2.4, 83% female). Outcome completion rates were 89% at T2 and 71% at T3. Program acceptability was high in both the intervention (33.9 ± 7.0) and control group (32.7 ± 6.8). Most participants exhibited moderate to high engagement with daily checkins (intervention: 79%, active control: 80%). No significant treatment effects were found. However, improvements across time in pain interference at T2 (β = -0.58, p < .001) and T3 (β = -0.64, p = .0016) and improvements in knowledge about managing pain at T2 (β = -0.54, p < .0001) and T3 (β = -1.04, p < .0001) were found for both groups. Most (15/16) interviewees reported that ICC enhanced their confidence and/or ability to engage in pain self-management. Digitally mediated symptom tracking and trending and pain education is engaging and beneficial for 15-25 year olds with chronic pain. Use of an active-control may have diminished the ability to detect treatment-group effects. ICC has been translated to French-Canadian and publicly released as a free self-management tool. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02601755.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{lalloo2026impacts,
  title = {{Impacts of the iCanCope Digital Pain Self-Management Program Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Chronic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.}},
  author = {Chitra Lalloo and Fareha Nishat and Tonya Palermo and Lori Montgomery and Fiona Campbell and Krista Baerg and Jill Chorney and Bruce Dick and Tania Di Renna and Karim Mukhida and Melanie Noel and Patricia Poulin and Mark Simmonds and Ramesh Zacharias and Lauren Harris and Cleo Davies-Chalmers and Carley Ouellette and Vina Mohabir and Quynh Pham and Joe Cafazzo and Sarah Brennenstuhl and Brenna McDermott and Rachel Kelly and Jennifer N Stinson},
  journal = {Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1080/24740527.2026.2717605},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899170},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Impacts of the iCanCope Digital Pain Self-Management Program Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Chronic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
AU  - Chitra Lalloo
AU  - Fareha Nishat
AU  - Tonya Palermo
AU  - Lori Montgomery
AU  - Fiona Campbell
AU  - Krista Baerg
AU  - Jill Chorney
AU  - Bruce Dick
AU  - Tania Di Renna
AU  - Karim Mukhida
AU  - Melanie Noel
AU  - Patricia Poulin
AU  - Mark Simmonds
AU  - Ramesh Zacharias
AU  - Lauren Harris
AU  - Cleo Davies-Chalmers
AU  - Carley Ouellette
AU  - Vina Mohabir
AU  - Quynh Pham
AU  - Joe Cafazzo
AU  - Sarah Brennenstuhl
AU  - Brenna McDermott
AU  - Rachel Kelly
AU  - Jennifer N Stinson
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/15
JO  - Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur
DO  - 10.1080/24740527.2026.2717605
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899170
AB  - iCanCope™ (ICC) is a digital self-management program for 15-25 year olds with chronic pain. This study evaluated program satisfaction and efficacy through a two arm randomized controlled trial in Canadian tertiary care pain clinics. Participants were randomized to receive either ICC (app and website with symptom tracking and trending, pain education, goal setting, library, community forum) or an identically branded active control program with limited features. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, postprogram (2 months; T2), and follow-up (6 months; T3). Satisfaction was assessed using the Acceptability eScale and qualitatively with a subset of intervention participants. Linear mixed effects models characterized treatment effects on primary (pain interference) and secondary outcomes. Of 302 enrolled participants, 297 were analyzed (mean age = 17.1 ± 2.4, 83% female). Outcome completion rates were 89% at T2 and 71% at T3. Program acceptability was high in both the intervention (33.9 ± 7.0) and control group (32.7 ± 6.8). Most participants exhibited moderate to high engagement with daily checkins (intervention: 79%, active control: 80%). No significant treatment effects were found. However, improvements across time in pain interference at T2 (β = -0.58, p < .001) and T3 (β = -0.64, p = .0016) and improvements in knowledge about managing pain at T2 (β = -0.54, p < .0001) and T3 (β = -1.04, p < .0001) were found for both groups. Most (15/16) interviewees reported that ICC enhanced their confidence and/or ability to engage in pain self-management. Digitally mediated symptom tracking and trending and pain education is engaging and beneficial for 15-25 year olds with chronic pain. Use of an active-control may have diminished the ability to detect treatment-group effects. ICC has been translated to French-Canadian and publicly released as a free self-management tool. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02601755.
SN  - 2474-0527
ER  -