Abstract
Inducing temporary positive states reduces pain and increases pain tolerance in laboratory
studies. We tested whether completing positive activities in one's daily life produces
long-term reductions in self-reported bodily pain in a randomized controlled trial
of an online positive activities intervention. Participants recruited via the Web
were randomly assigned to complete 0, 2, 4, or 6 positive activities administered
online over a 6-week period. Follow-up assessments were collected at the end of 6 weeks
and at 1, 3, and 6 months postintervention. We used linear mixed effects models to
examine whether the intervention reduced pain over time among those who had a score
<67 on the bodily pain subscale of the Short Form-36 at baseline (N = 417; pain scores
range from 0 to 100; higher scores indicate less pain). Mean pain scores improved
from baseline to 6 months in the 2-activity (55.7 to 67.4), 4-activity (54.2 to 71.0),
and 6-activity (50.9 to 67.9) groups. Improvements were significantly greater (P < .05) in the 4-activity and 6-activity groups than in the 0-activity control group
(54.1 to 62.2) in unadjusted and adjusted models. This study suggests that positive
activities administered online can reduce bodily pain in adults with at least mild
to moderate baseline pain.
Perspective
This study demonstrates that teaching people simple positive activities can decrease
reported levels of bodily pain; moreover, these activities can be administered over
the internet, a potential avenue for broadly disseminating health interventions at
relatively low costs and with high sustainability.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 24, 2014
Accepted:
February 9,
2014
Received in revised form:
January 24,
2014
Received:
September 20,
2013
Footnotes
This study used data collected by Acacia Parks, Martin Seligman, and Stephen Schueller with support from the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
L.R.M.H.'s effort on the project was supported by the Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Career Development Program (RCD 06-287).
The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent those of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
Identification
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Published by Elsevier Inc.
