This is a pilot randomized clinical trial comparing a telehealth mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) with a telehealth education intervention (EDU) for patients recovering from spine surgery. The procedures will be as follows:~Enroll patients prior to lumbar spine surgery for a degenerative spine condition at the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Spine Center. Recruitment, enrollment, and screening will occur at a routine preoperative clinic visit or over the phone.~Two weeks after enrolled participants complete surgery, they will be randomized in a 3:2 ratio to either MBI or EDU condition, respectively. Randomization will be stratified by chronic preoperative opioid use (yes/no). The randomization assignments will remain concealed from all study personnel until the time of randomization. The outcome assessor and surgical providers will remain blinded to participant study condition.~Within four weeks of surgery, participants will begin the assigned intervention. The interventions will consist of meeting with an interventionist for eight, weekly one-on-one telehealth MBI sessions over an online telehealth platform. MBI sessions will led by a clinical psychologist and will be 75 minutes long (90 minutes for the first session). EDU sessions will be led by a physical therapist and will be 30 minutes long. Sessions will be audio recorded and monitored for fidelity.~3) Participants will complete self-report assessments online prior to surgery, two weeks after surgery (pre-intervention), three months after surgery (post-intervention) and 6 months after surgery.~4) Participants will complete quantitative sensory testing assessments of pain tolerance, pain threshold, and temporal summation of pain prior to surgery, two weeks after surgery, three months after surgery, and 6 months after surgery.
The goal of this pilot clinical trial is to compare two behavioral interventions for patients who are recovering from lumbar spinal surgery for a degenerative spine condition. The study aims to answer the following questions:~Is it feasible and acceptable to deliver the interventions and conduct the study procedures in this patient population?~Do the interventions benefit patients with regard to pain-related, functional, opioid use, and psychosocial outcomes at 3 and 6 months after surgery, and does one intervention have more benefit than the other?~Participants will be asked to do the following:~Complete self-report questionnaires online before spine surgery, and around 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after spine surgery.~Complete a sensory pain task before spine surgery, and around 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after spine surgery.~Around two weeks after surgery, participants will be randomly assigned by chance to one of two behavioral interventions - Mindfulness or Education. Participants will then be asked to attend 8, weekly sessions with a study treatment coach over telehealth (online with camera and microphone).