Table 5.

EDU change process themes and sample extracts from the post-treatment, semi-structured interviews

Themes	Example
Group Cohesion
Feeling of Not Being Alone	“I was feeling like I was so alone, and I found out better, that other people were going through it, too.” (47 year- old, AA female)
Learning Together/Sharing	“It’s better to talk about it in a group and how each, everybody feels, you know. Until then, you know, I didn’t know how I was feeling until I heard all the other ladies tell about their stories and how their pain affects their daily life and stuff. So I understood it then…” (48 year-old, AA female)
Therapist Factors
Rapport	“And everybody still did not know you all had a schedule. You all didn’t get impatient or anything. Some people probably had things held in that they just didn’t know how to relate or communicate about, thought nobody wanted to hear. But it was good that you all and the other members that was involved was able to listen to them.” (48 year-old, AA female)
Facilitating Role	“Yes, because we don’t get this down here and it was exciting for somebody to come out and take time with us and try to help us learn stuff that we don’t know… And they learned me ways to do and get around that and relax and take time.” (50 year-old, AA female)
Self-efficacy
General	“It helped me get control over it. Instead of the pain controlling me, it helped me learn how to control my pain.” (34 year-old, AA female)
Self-care	“I made a commitment the last time I was here that I’m gonna start doing better. Even my eating habits, trying to exercise just a little bit to help with the weight problem, and the weight problem will come off a little bit and that will help with the pain. So I’m trying to get an idea of how I can do things and get things going to keep the pain not so bad.” (46 year-old, AA female)
Distraction
Behavioral	“For me it was to get up and move around during the day, not lay back there and dwell on the pain. Get up and do some of my normal activities… So once I got up and got stirring around, most of my pain is in my knees, arthritis. And once I got up and start moving around, it’d tend to go away somewhat.” (63 year-old, AA female)
Acceptance
General	“I didn’t feel about it at all. It was just something I just wanted to go away, you know. It taught us how to deal with it and how to live life with it.” (48 year-old, AA female)
Letting Go	“I found a way through that studying to let that stuff go. There were some things that were just totally out of my power and I had to realize that and I just had to live and be me.” (35 year-old, AA male)