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Status unknownNCT05634122SPINE-ACTUpdated Dec 7, 2022

Efficacy of ACT in Patients Scheduled for Lumbar Spine Surgery

An interventional study of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Treatment as Usual (TAU) in Randomized Controlled Trial, sponsored by Parc de Salut Mar. Status unknown at 1 site in Spain. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-12-07.

Sponsored by Parc de Salut Mar · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Dec 2022), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 11 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Nov 2021, registered Nov 2022).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
80
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
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Study summary

Objectives: (1) To analyze the effectiveness of adding a group-based form of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to the treatment as usual (TAU) for preoperative patients diagnosed with degenerative lumbar pathology plus psychosocial risk factors related to post-surgical chronic pain at baseline and after psychological treatment. (2) To examine the effectiveness of ACT on the improvement of pain interference, pain-related and behavioral variables in degenerative lumbar pathology preoperative patients after lumbar spine surgery in comparison with TAU. (3) To measure the proximal and distal effects of ACT in preoperative patients with degenerative lumbar pathology who had the surgery after ACT program completion in comparison with proximal and distal TAU surgery effects on pain related variables.

Method: A 12-month randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted at Hospital del Mar (Barcelona). Only those preoperative degenerative lumbar pathology patients with psychosocial risk factors for chronic post-surgical pain will be randomized to pre-surgical ACT group or to TAU. Evaluations will be completed before treatment (baseline), after ACT therapy (3 months), a first follow-up (6 months from baseline alias 3 months after surgery), second follow-up (9 months from baseline alias 6 months after surgery), and final follow-up (15 months from baseline alias 12 months from surgery).

Participants: 80 adult preoperative patients with degenerative lumbar pathology plus psychosocial risk factors related to post-surgical chronic pain will be randomly assigned to two arms: ACT + TAU vs TAU.

Primary outcome: Pain interference. Secondary outcomes: pain intensity, pain catastrophising, pain acceptance, pain disability, kinesiophobia, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, psychological flexibility, and quality of life.

Main statistical analyses: Intention-to-Treat analyses that will include all participants who undergo random allocation, using multiple imputation to replace missing values. General linear mixed-effects models will be performed using Restricted Maximum Likelihood to estimate the parameters. Calculation of between-groups effect sizes using Cohen's d and of the number-needed-to-treat.

Read the detailed description

The Spine-ACT project's main objective is to determine the effectiveness of adding to the standard care (TAU) of preoperative patients with degenerative lumbar pathology plus psychosocial risk factors related to post-surgical chronic pain, a group-based form of ACT. In this regard, assessing patients' results after surgery at proximal or distal improvement on pain-related variables compared with TAU surgery patients would be addressed. The Spine-ACT project will assess the usefulness of ACT therapy applied before surgery to improve pain-related variables and quality of life in preoperative degenerative lumbar pathology patients with psychosocial risk factors of developing chronic or post-surgical pain. This project will significantly expand the limited knowledge available about preoperative pain-related improvement through ACT therapy and how this psychological therapy could prevent post-surgical chronic pain. Thus, it is expected that ACT therapy can improve the various pain-related and quality-of-life variables in developing chronic pain in preoperative patients diagnosed with degenerative lumbar pathology plus psychosocial risk factors of post-surgical chronic pain.

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Conditions studied

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
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In context

Lead sponsor

Parc de Salut Mar is the lead sponsor of 180 studies on the registry; 27 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 18- 80 years
  • Possess an adequate understanding of Spanish or Catalan
  • Meet the diagnostic criteria for lumbar pain/degenerative lumbar pathology candidates for surgical treatment.

    • Diagnoses:

      1. Lumbar canal stenosis.
      2. Foraminal stenosis.
      3. Lumbar spondylolisthesis.
      4. Lumbar degenerative disc disease.
      5. Degenerative scoliosis.
      6. Lumbar kyphosis.
    • Procedures:

Laminectomy. Foraminoplasty. Laminectomy and posterior arthrodesis. previous arthrodesis.

  • Presence of psychosocial risk factors for chronic post-surgical pain:

    • Mild-moderate anxiety/depression symptoms (HADS hospital anxiety and depression sub-scales≥11, see measurement instruments section) and/or
    • Presence of catastrophizing (PCS catastrophizing scale (0-52) ≥24, see measurement instruments section), and/or
    • Kinesiophobia base ≥27, see measurement instruments section)
  • Have an internet connection on a mobile phone, tablet, computer, etc. to be able to carry out group psychological therapy online.
  • Give authorization by signing an informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Cognitive impairment that in the clinician's judgment prevents you from participating in therapy
  • Presenting chronic pain not related to the diagnosis of low back pain that is a candidate for surgical treatment
  • NOT present psychosocial risk factors for chronic post-surgical pain (see inclusion criteria: anxiety, catastrophizing, depression, kinesiophobia)
  • Patients in litigation or who are pending legal claims for compensation
  • Severe or decompensated psychiatric disorder (depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder) that in the clinician's judgment prevents you from participating in therapy
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Consumption of toxic substances in abuse/dependence, except for smoking
  • Patients with a language barrier (Spanish/Catalan)
  • Patients who do not authorize it voluntarily and do not want to participate
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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
80 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    TAU + Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

    This therapy is based, as the name implies, on the acceptance (not avoidance) of negative experiences as a coping strategy, and on committing to life values or objectives. ACT has been used for various conditions, including chronic pain. Since avoidance is a strategy frequently used by patients suffering from pain, the application of this therapy seems very appropriate. In fact, it has been proven that patients who accept their pain more are those who score lower in pain intensity, have less negative emotions and enjoy a better quality of life.

    Behavioral: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  • Active comparator
    Treatment as Usual (TAU)

    Standard care. The standard treatment would generally be pharmacological to address chronic pain, adjusted to the symptomatic profile of each patient.

    Behavioral: Treatment as Usual (TAU)

Interventions

  • BehavioralAcceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

    Group treatment protocol of 8 weeks of 90 minutes sessions Session 1: Presentation of the general ACT therapy concept. Session 2: Value analysis I. Session 3: Value analysis II. Session 4: Value analysis third Session 5: Values and feelings. Session 6: Drink one direction. Session 7: Dare and change. Session 8: Ready to act with ACT. Treatment as usual (TAU) Standard pharmacological treatment for patients with chronic pain.

  • BehavioralTreatment as Usual (TAU)

    Standard pharmacological treatment for patients with chronic pain

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Brief Pain Inventory (BPI)

    It is a questionnaire that assesses chronic pain in a multidimensional way. It provides information on the intensity of the pain and on the degree of interference in the functioning and daily activities of the patients. It has 11 items. The first 4 items evaluate the intensity of pain in the last 24 hours. Subsequently, 7 items that report the degree of involvement of chronic pain in various areas of the person's functioning are evaluated. The higher the score in the areas of the questionnaire, the greater the intensity of perceived pain, as well as the greater degree of involvement of chronic pain in the functioning of the person in the various areas explored

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)

    A scale of 14 items was created to assess symptoms of anxiety and depression. The total score ranges from 0 to 42, and each subscale (HADS-Anxiety and HADS-Depression) includes 7 items with scores ranging from 0 to 21. Higher scores indicate higher symptom severity.

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

  2. Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS)

    The scale of 13 items comprises three dimensions: rumination over pain, magnification of pain, and helplessness in the ace of pain symptoms. The PCS total score and subscale scores are computed as the sum of ratings for each item. This study used the total score, which can vary from 0 to 52 with higher scores indicating greater pain catastrophizing.

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

  3. Psychological Inflexibility in Pain Scale (PIPS)

    12-item scale that assesses psychological inflexibility in patients with pain and includes two factors: avoidance and cognitive fusion with pain. For this study, only the total score is used; it ranges from 12 to 84, with higher scores indicating higher level of psychological inflexibility.

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

  4. Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale (TSK-11SV)

    It is a questionnaire that allows us to measure the fear of moving or being injured/(re)injured, in patients with pain. The final score can be at least 11 and a maximum of 44 points; the higher the score, the higher the degree of kinesiophobia. It is considered that a score ≥18 is already indicative of a fear of movement, which increases in severity as the score increases.

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

  5. Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ-20)

    It consists of 20 items organized in a factorial structure of two subscales. The maximum possible total score is 120, so that higher scores indicate a higher level of the acceptance construct in the process.

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

  6. Short Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12)

    This scale includes measures of health-related quality of life. It is made up of a subset of 12 items, with 8 dimensions, and 2 summative components (physical and mental). The items are coded, added, and transformed into a scale that ranges from 0 (the worst state of health for that dimension) to 100 (the best state of health).

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

  7. Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Scale (OLBPDQ)

    The scale consists of 10 questions with 6 response possibilities each. The total score, expressed as a percentage (0 to 100%), is obtained as the sum of the estimates for each element divided by the maximum possible score multiplied by 100. High values describe greater functional limitations.

    Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 2 years

Other outcomes

  1. Socio-demographic questionnaire

    Gender, date of birth, marital status, living arrangements, educational level and employ-ment status.

    Time frame: Baseline

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Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Parc Salut Mar
    Barcelona, 08003, Spain
    Recruiting
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 7, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05634122
Lead sponsor
Parc de Salut Mar
Responsible party
Juan Ramon Castaño (Principal Investigator, Parc de Salut Mar) — Principal investigator
First posted
Dec 1, 2022
Start date
Nov 26, 2021
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2023 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2024 (estimated)
Last update
Dec 7, 2022

Study contacts

Juan Ramón Castaño-Asins, MD
Contact
jrcastano@psmar.cat
+34932483000 ext. 3175
Ariadna Colomer-Carbonell, MSc
Contact
ariadna.colomer@sjd.es
+34936406350 ext. 2546
Antonio Montes-Pérez, PhD
study director · Parc Salut Mar
Víctor Pérez-Solà, PhD
study director · Parc Salut Mar
Luis Miguel Martín-López, PhD
study chair · Parc Salut Mar
Alejandro Del Arco-Churruca, PhD
study director · Parc Salut Mar
Jesús Lafuente Baraza, PhD
study chair · Parc Salut Mar
Juan V. Luciano, PhD
study director · Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu
Juan Ramón Castaño-Asins, MD
principal investigator · Parc Salut Mar

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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