Health eRide: Outcomes of a Pilot Program Leveraging Principles of Gamification and SMS Messaging to Help Veterans Self-Manage Chronic Pain

• DOI: 10.2196/iproc.6155
• Publication Date: 2016-12-29T09:00:41Z
• Authors: Sara Johnson; Deborah Levesque; Lynne Broderick
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; 3. Good health

Background: Chronic pain creates a significant public health burden and disproportionately affects veterans. Over 56% of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Enduring (OEF), New Dawn (OND) veterans have diagnosis chronic pain. The frequency extent pain, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, the co-occurrence all three conditions (post-deployment multi-symptom disorder, PMD) can complicate reduce effectiveness traditional treatments for Taken in combination with opioid crisis United States, there is an urgent need innovative integrative approaches to non-medical management. However, readiness engage self-management varies.