Web-MAP Intervention for Youth With Sickle Cell Disease

OPEC (Online Patient Education Control) Group: The purpose of the patient education control group is to control for time, attention, and computer usage. This group will serve as an attention control condition. Children will continue with the standard medical care that has been prescribed for their pain problem. Children and parents will be provided with access to a revised version of the Web-MAP study website, which will have two functional components: 1) information from publicly available educational websites about pediatric chronic pain management, 2) diary and assessments. This version of the website differs from the one accessed by the treatment condition in that it does not provide access to behavioral and cognitive skills training via treatment modules for children and parents.

Web-MAP Group: Participants will have access to the full version of the web program. They will be asked to log in to the website using their own personal computer at home, work, school, or a public library. Participants in the Web-MAP group will have access to treatment modules and daily diaries on the web site. The online treatment will take between 8 and 9 weeks for participants to complete. Children and parents will be asked to log onto the web site, read through the treatment modules, and complete practice assignments to learn new skills (e.g., relaxation). Adolescents and parents will be asked to complete a total of 8 modules each.