Online Education and Gentle Exercise Intervention

Aim 1: Develop and manualize the Education and Gentle Exercise intervention. Using focus groups, clinical reasoning, literature, and findings from previously tested interventions of yoga and self-management, the researchers will develop, refine, and standardize the Education and Gentle Exercise intervention for chronic pain. In parallel, the researchers will develop a control group that includes exercise and health and wellness education. The expected outcomes include Education and Gentle Exercise intervention workbooks for participants and training and teaching manuals for interventionists leading the Education and Gentle Exercise intervention group and control group. Aim 2: Assess feasibility and acceptability of an online intervention, the Education and Gentle Exercise and research procedures including planned assessments. In this small RCT, the researchers will examine feasibility and acceptability of the 8-week Education and Gentle Exercise procedures and intervention compared to an exercise and health and wellness education control group. Participants will include 30 caregiving dyads randomly assigned to the two groups (15 dyads for Education and Gentle Exercise, and 15 dyads for control group; N = 30 dyads/60 participants). The primary hypothesis is that Education and Gentle Exercise will be feasible and acceptable to caregiving dyads, as measured by benchmarks for recruitment, screening, attendance, and completion of assessments and intervention. Surveys will be administered and focus groups will be conducted to understand participant satisfaction and experiences with Education and Gentle Exercise. After each intervention session, interventionists, caregivers, and care recipients will rate their satisfaction with the session content and activities.