Background Despite the biopsychosocial underpinnings of chronic noncancer pain, relatively little is known about the contribution of psychosocial factors to chronic cancer pain. The authors aimed to characterize associations between biopsychosocial factors and pain and opioid use among individuals with chronic pain and cancer. Methods The authors conducted a retrospective, cross‐sectional study of 700 patients with chronic pain and cancer seeking treatment at an academic tertiary pain clinic. Patients completed demographic questionnaires and validated psychosocial and pain measures. Multivariable, hierarchical linear and logistic regressions assessed the relative contributions of biopsychosocial factors to the primary dependent variables of pain severity, pain interference, and opioid use. Results Participants were 62% female and 66% White with a mean age of 59 ± 15 years, and 55% held a college degree or higher. Older age, African American or “other” race, sleep disturbance, and pain catastrophizing were significantly associated with higher pain severity (F(5,657) = 22.45; P ≤ .001; R2 = 0.22). Depression, sleep disturbance, pain catastrophizing, lower emotional support, and higher pain severity were significantly associated with pain interference (F(5,653) = 9.47; P ≤ .001; R2 = 0.44). Lastly, a poor cancer prognosis (Exp(B) = 1.62) and sleep disturbance (Exp(B) = 1.02) were associated with taking opioids, whereas identifying as Asian (Exp(B) = 0.48) or Hispanic (Exp(B) = 0.47) was associated with lower odds of using opioids. Conclusions Modifiable psychological factors—specifically sleep disturbance, depression, and pain catastrophizing—were uniquely associated with pain and opioid use in patients with chronic pain and diverse cancer diagnoses. Future behavioral pain interventions that concurrently target sleep may improve pain among patients with cancer. Lay Summary Feeling depressed, worrying about pain, and bad sleep are related to higher pain symptoms in individuals with chronic pain and cancer. Specifically, those who struggle to sleep have worse pain and use more opioids. Also, individuals who have a bad prognosis for their cancer are more likely to be using opioid pain medications. Although race and cancer are related to chronic pain in patients, psychological well‐being is also strongly related to this same pain.

Objective Emergency clinicians face elevated rates of burnout that result in poor outcomes for clinicians, patients, and health systems. The objective of this single‐arm pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of a Transcendental Meditation (TM) intervention for emergency clinicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic and to explore the potential effectiveness in improving burnout, sleep, and psychological health. Methods Emergency clinicians (physicians, nurses, and physician‐assistants) from 2 urban hospitals were recruited to participate in TM instruction (8 individual or group in‐person and remote sessions) for 3 months. Session attendance was the primary feasibility outcome (prespecified as attending 6/8 sessions), and burnout was the primary clinical outcome. Participant‐reported measures of feasibility and validated measures of burnout, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and stress were collected at baseline and the 1‐month and 3‐month follow‐ups. Descriptive statistics and linear mixed‐effects models were used. Results Of the 14 physicians (46%), 7 nurses (22%), and 10 physician‐assistants (32%) who participated, 61% were female (n = 19/32). TM training and at‐home meditation practice was feasible for clinicians as 90.6% (n = 29/32) attended 6/8 training sessions and 80.6% self‐reported meditating at least once a day on average. Participants demonstrated significant reductions in burnout (P < .05; effect sizes, Cohen's d = 0.43–0.45) and in symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep disturbance (P values < .001; Cohen's d = 0.70–0.87). Conclusion TM training was feasible for emergency clinicians during the COVID‐19 pandemic and led to significant reductions in burnout and psychological symptoms. TM is a safe and effective meditation tool to improve clinicians’ well‐being.

Introduction: Both positive (burning, stabbing, and allodynia) and negative (numbness) neuropathic symptoms may arise after surgery but likely contribute differently to patients' postoperative pain experience. Numbness has been identified as divergent from positive neuropathic symptoms and therefore excluded from some neuropathic assessment tools (Neuropathic Pain Scale for PostSurgical patients [NeuPPS]). Objectives: In this prospective longitudinal study of patients undergoing breast surgery, we aimed to delineate the time course of numbness and its coincidence with NeuPPS and to contrast the association of surgical, psychosocial, and psychophysical predictors with the development of negative vs positive neuropathic symptoms. Methods: Patients reported surgical area sensory disturbances at 2 weeks and 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Association of baseline demographic, surgical, psychosocial, and psychophysical factors with NeuPPS and numbness across time was investigated using generalized estimating equation linear and logistic regression. Results: Numbness was consistently reported by 65% of patients; positive neuropathic symptoms were less common, often decreasing over time. Neuropathic Pain scale for PostSurgical patients and numbness co-occurred in half of patients and were both associated with greater clinical pain severity and impact, younger age, axillary surgery, and psychosocial factors. More extensive surgery and chemotherapy were only associated with numbness. Conversely, other chronic pain, lower physical activity, perioperative opioid use, negative affect, and lower baseline pressure pain threshold and tolerance were only associated with NeuPPS. Patients reporting numbness alone did not endorse substantial clinical pain. Conclusions: Differentiation of predictors, prevalence, and time course of numbness vs NeuPPS in breast surgical patients revealed important distinctions, suggesting that their independent assessment is worthwhile in future studies of postsurgical pain.

418 Background: Pain affects 40-90% of patients with advanced cancer. Supplementing pharmacologic therapy with behavioral skills may improve pain outcomes. We sought to evaluate patients’ perspectives of a pain-cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) mobile health intervention for cancer pain. Methods: We recruited patients from the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute outpatient palliative care clinic to review the pain-CBT mHealth intervention. Eligible patients were >21 years old, had an incurable solid malignancy, chronic pain related to cancer, and were using opioids for cancer. We excluded hospitalized patients and those with pain from a recent surgery, dementia/delirium, or an opioid use disorder. In individual, qualitative interviews patients reviewed pain-CBT content modified for advanced cancer and mHealth delivery, and provided feedback on the relevance of the content in the context of their own pain. Results: Patients (n = 14) reviewed pain-CBT app content and wireframes. Most rated the content and user interface as highly usable, informative, aesthetically pleasing, convenient, and relevant to their experiences. Suggested improvement included revising technical content to increase clarity/reduce literacy, shortening length of texts, and including additional tracking for daily opioid use. Six subthemes regarding patients’ current pain management approaches were identified. Individuals endorsed using physical coping skills including engaging in physical activity and at times struggling to recognize physical limits. Many endorsed utilizing psychological coping such as accepting their pain, reframing thoughts about pain, and using distraction or relaxation to cope. Social support was relevant to coping for almost all patients, and many described COVID-19 distancing guidelines as disruptive. Patients endorsed complex relationships with opioids including guilt related to use or difficulty understanding prescription instructions. Most patients emphasized the relationship between sleep, stress, and pain as central to their pain management, and that they wished their clinicians reviewed the relationship between pain and stress earlier. Conclusions: MHealth delivery was viewed as an attractive method to both integrate and deliver behavioral pain management skills with opioid support to alleviate cancer pain. A future pilot study will evaluate the app’s feasibility and acceptability in patients with advanced cancer.