PATH-Pain: A Primary Care-Based Psychosocial Intervention To Improve Cognitive and Depression Outcomes in Older Adults with MCI and Early Stage AD

This MPI R01 combines the expertise of the Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine to address MCI (mild cognitive impairment) and early stage AD/ADRD in patients with comorbid chronic pain and depression. We propose to test whether Problem Adaptation Therapy for Pain (PATH-Pain), a novel primary-care based psychosocial intervention designed to reduce stress in MCI and early stage AD/ADRD patients with comorbid depression and pain, has better cognitive, affective, and functional outcomes than Attention Control Usual Care. PATH-Pain is an easy-to-administer psychosocial intervention designed to improve emotion regulation and reduce stress in older adults with MCI or early stage AD/ADRD, chronic pain, and depression. To reduce stress, PATH-Pain aims to: a) reduce negative emotions associated with pain and pain-related disability; b) reduce negative emotions that interfere with pain treatment (e.g., hopelessness, helplessness); c) increase positive emotions and increase engagement in pleasurable activities; d) help patients identify addressable problems in their lives and try to find the best possible solution to these problems; e) reduce interpersonal tension between patients and family members, caregivers, and friends; and f) shift attention during experiences of pain to reduce pain intensity. To achieve these aims, PATH-Pain employs emotion regulation, problem solving, and behavioral activation techniques. In our preliminary study, PATH-Pain participants showed high acceptability and treatment satisfaction with the intervention. Based on our power analysis, we will randomize 100 older adults (60 years and older) with MCI or early stage dementia (probable or possible Alzheimer’s Disease), comorbid depression, and chronic pain to 8 weekly in-office sessions and 6 monthly phone (3 individual and 3 group) sessions of PATH-Pain vs. Attention Control Usual Care in 4 primary care sites. The Attention Control Usual Care arm consists of Usual Care, a pamphlet on pain and depression, and a structured interview of the same duration as each PATH-Pain session. The structured interview aims to control for attention and time, and will consist of general questions regarding health habits and other non-medical topics unrelated to cognitive impairment, pain, and depression. The investigators have shown evidence of feasibility of recruitment, retention, and assessment procedures for the proposed study. Assessments will be performed at baseline, and weeks 5 (no cognitive outcomes), 9, 24 (no cognitive outcomes), 36, and 52 by research assistants unaware of the study hypotheses and the participants’ randomization status. PATH-Pain will be administered by certified mental health workers and the Attention-Control sessions will be administered by a non-clinician team member experienced in structured interviews.