Table 5.

Digital health for psychological interventions.

Study	Population	Design	Intervention		Comparator or comparators		Primary outcome findings
			Description	Sample size	Description	Sample size
Nevedal et al [80]	Chronic pain, including osteoarthritis	Pre or post design	Commercially available web-based program	645	None	N/Aa	Improvements in pain intensity and pain unpleasantness on a 0- to 10-point Likert scale
Rini et al [79]	Hip or knee osteoarthritis	RCTb	PainCoach (internet-based PCSTc)	58	No intervention	55	Significant improvements in pain on the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale 2
Bennell et al [76]	Chronic knee pain	RCT	Website for education and PCST program and videoconferencing for exercises delivered by PTd	74	Website for education	74	No difference in improvements between groups for the NRSe pain score and the WOMACf function at 6 months
Lawford et al [85]	Chronic knee pain	Exploratory analyses from an RCT	Website for education and PCST program and videoconferencing for exercises delivered by PT	74	Website for education	74	Greater improvements for the NRS pain score in employed people in the intervention vs employed people in the comparator; greater NRS pain improvements in people who had higher self-efficacy
Mecklenburg et al [77]	Chronic knee pain	RCT	Inertial movement sensors and tablet computer with an app that includes an exercise plan, CBTg, weight loss, personal coach, and peer support	101	Digitally delivered patient education	61	Greater improvements for the KOOSh pain and function in the intervention vs comparator
O’Moore et al [78]	Knee osteoarthritis with major depressive disorder	RCT	Internet-based CBT program)+usual treatment	44	Usual treatment	25	Improvements in intervention for depression and psychological distress
Stome et al [81]	Osteoarthritis	Pre or post	12-week goal achievement program using behavior change app Vett (personalized goals+2-3 corresponding weekly tasks decided during an in-person consultation with physician+self-monitoring+cues and reminders+individual feedback and communication with an assigned mentor)	12	N/A	N/A	High levels of acceptability, utility, and usability
Bennell et al [82]	Knee osteoarthritis and obesity	2-group superiority RCT (TARGET trial)	24-week behavior change, theory-informed, automated, SMS text messaging interventions that address barriers to and facilitators of adherence	56	No SMS text messaging	54	Greater improvements in exercise adherence on the Exercise Adherence Rating Scale in the intervention vs comparator
Dharmasri et al [83]	African Americans with osteoarthritis	Mixed methods RCT: data from the intervention arm of the trial	STAARTi trial: 11-session, telephone-based PCST program delivered by counselors+ handouts+audio recording for progressive muscle relaxation	93	N/A	N/A	Participants found the program helpful and described the following themes: improved pain coping, mood and emotional benefits, improved physical functioning, and experiences related to intervention delivery
Pronk et al [87]	Post-KRj	Unblinded RCT	PainCoach app that gave advice on pain medication use, exercise or rest, and when to call the clinic in response to a patient’s input of pain experienced	38	Same advice as PainCoach given in usual care	33	No difference between groups in improvements in pain at rest, during activity, or at night
Buvanendran et al [86]	Pre-KR	RCT	8-week telehealth CBT and 4-week telehealth CBT	30 (8 weeks) and 20 (4 weeks)	4-week in-person CBT and no CBT	15 (4 week) and 15 (no CBT)	Improvements in PCST but not WOMAC pain scores in the intervention vs comparator
McCurry et al [84]	Moderate to severe osteoarthritis and insomnia	RCT	Telephone-based 8-week CBT for insomnia+daily sleep diaries+sleep hygiene education+cognitive strategies	136	Education related to living with chronic osteoarthritis	146	Improvement on Insomnia Severity Index in the intervention vs comparator

^aN/A: not applicable.

^bRCT: randomized controlled trial.

^cPCST: pain coping skills training.

^dPT: physical therapy.

^eNRS: Numeric Pain Rating Scale.

^fWOMAC: Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index. 

^gCBT: cognitive behavioral therapy.

^hKOOS: Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score.

ⁱSTAART: Skills Training for African Americans with Osteoarthritis study

^jKR: knee replacement.