A pilot study to establish feasibility and acceptability of a yoga and self-management education intervention to support caregivers and care receivers with persistent pain.
Arlene A Schmid, Christine A Fruhauf, Aimee L Fox and 4 others
PMID 39421567WHAT IT FOUND
Online delivery of a yoga and self-management programme for pain caregivers met all feasibility benchmarks, while in-person delivery failed recruitment targets.
Both groups reported high satisfaction, but pain scores did not significantly improve, and caregiver outcomes lagged behind those of care receivers.
Key findings
01The online intervention met or exceeded all feasibility benchmarks, whereas the in-person version failed recruitment and attrition criteria.
02Care receivers in the in-person yoga group showed improvements in pain and occupational performance, but caregivers did not show the same benefits.
03Pain severity and interference scores did not decrease as expected in the intervention groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was underpowered and not designed to test efficacy, so any observed changes are preliminary and cannot be attributed to the treatment. The shift from in-person to online delivery mid-study due to COVID-19 introduces significant confounding variables, making it difficult to separate the effect of the intervention from the effect of the pandemic context. Attrition was high in the in-person group (31%), and the sample size for the control groups was very small, limiting generalizability. Self-management education and yoga were delivered together; it is impossible to determine if the benefits (or lack thereof) were due to the yoga, the education, or their combination.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the National Institute of Health National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high satisfaction scores or the improvements in care receivers as evidence that the yoga intervention works for pain. The study was not powered for efficacy, pain scores did not decrease as expected overall, and caregivers did not benefit, meaning this is a feasibility signal for online delivery, not a treatment recommendation.