Hazardous alcohol use contributes to mental and physical health problems, disability, and may lead to increased risk of premature death3,4. Among individuals with chronic pain the rate of hazardous alcohol use is elevated compared to the general population5, yet, hazardous alcohol users with chronic pain remain an underserved group. There is a critical need to test alternative and complimentary approaches to the implementation of effective interventions to reduce hazardous alcohol use among this high-risk segment of the general population; doing so in an integrated fashion (i.e., jointly targeting alcohol and affective mechanisms that may maintain pain-alcohol associations) may provide a more efficient and targeted intervention approach. Targeting pain-related anxiety, a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor that is prospectively associated with both hazardous drinking and chronic pain6,7, may be beneficial. Thus, more work is needed to evaluate the benefit of targeting elevated pain-related anxiety among hazardous drinkers with chronic pain. Our approach will follow a staged model consistent with NIH guidelines for developing and standardizing behavioral interventions. Phase IA activities will involve collecting qualitative feedback from iterative focus groups (N = 10) to refine intervention content and evaluate treatment acceptability and feasibility. Phase IB activities will include a proof-of-concept and highly rigorous randomized clinical trial designed to compare pain-related anxiety/alcohol PFI (PA-PFI) to control PFI (C-PFI) among a sample of 130 hazardous drinkers with chronic pain who have elevated levels of pain-related anxiety. This study represents an important and pivotal step in the larger landscape of translating basic research to more efficacious strategies for reducing hazardous drinking among underserved populations with medical comorbidities. The proposed intervention would be highly disseminable and relevant to millions of hazardous drinkers with chronic pain. Given the collective public health impact of chronic pain and hazardous drinking, the proposed study will yield findings that enhance scientific knowledge, enhance our understanding of mechanisms in reciprocal pain-alcohol relations, and inform the development of novel treatments for hazardous drinkers with chronic pain with elevated pain-related anxiety that are adaptable and easily implemented across a variety of healthcare settings.
There is a pressing public health need to develop novel interventions that aim to reduce alcohol consumption and concurrent alcohol among hazardous drinkers with comorbid chronic pain. The proposed study will draw upon NIH treatment development guidelines (Stage 1) to translate and innovate past work to address a major public health priority. Specifically, we propose to develop (Phase IA) and pilot test (Phase IB) a brief, integrated, single-session, computer-based personalized feedback intervention (PFI) designed to 1) enhance knowledge regarding adverse pain-related anxiety-alcohol interrelations; and (2) increase motivation and intention to reduce hazardous drinking.
