The Pain Course: A Randomised Controlled Trial assessing the efficacy and acceptability of an Internet Delivered-Treatment Program for Managing Chronic Pain provided with different levels of clinical support.

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of four groups: (1) a clinician-initiated contact group, (2) a participant-initiated contact group, (3) a self-guided group, and a (4) waitlist control group, who begin the program as soon as the treatments group finish the program. All participants will meet diagnostic criteria for chronic pain (i.e. pain lasting longer than 6 months). All participants will complete 5 lessons of Internet based treatment about management of symptoms of chronic pain and anxiety, depression and disability associated with pain. One lesson will be completed every 7 to 10 days. Each lesson will take about 15 minutes to complete. Participants will also have access to summaries of each lesson, and will read anonymous stories about other people with chronic pain, taking a further 20 minutes per summary. Participants in the clinician-initiated contact group group will receive weekly telephone calls or emails from a trained and supervised Psychologist at the eCentreClinic to provide support, encouragement and to answer questions about the content of the Course. Participants in the participant-initiated contact group will receive exactly the same materials and content except, instead of being contact by a clinican, they will have the option to contact or request contact with the eCentreClinic Psychologist themselves. In contrast, those in the Self-Guided Group will not receive contact with the Psychologist during the Course. In all other respects the Courses are identical. Participants in the waitlist control group will receive access to the Course after the treatment groups finish and will be provided with participant-initiated contact. The duration of the program is 8 weeks. Study questionnaires will be administered at application, pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 3, 12 and 24 month follow-up. Some questionnaires will be administered weekly during the Course. The major sets of questionnaires will take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The treatment materials are based on previous internet-based programs, which apply cognitive behavioural techniques.