Digital Health Psychosocial Intervention for Adolescent Spine Surgery Preparation and Recovery

The SurgeryPal intervention is a cognitive-behavioral program for youth undergoing major surgery. SurgeryPal is delivered in two 4-week phases: the pre-operative phase, and the post-operative phase. Each phase consists of 3 separate treatment modules for youth and parents, which teach cognitive and behavioral coping skills to target known psychosocial and behavioral risk factors (i.e. anxiety/distress and sleep disturbance) for poorer postsurgical outcomes, and provide training in pain self-management skills. Pre-operative modules include: 1) Preparing for surgery, 2) Coping with stress before surgery, and 3) Getting ready for the hospital. Postoperative modules include: 1) Coping at home after surgery, 2) Return to activities and school, and 3) Long-term recovery. Modules are self-guided and interactive, and focus on phases of preparation and recovery from surgery. The goal of the program is to reduce pain and enhance quality of life following surgery in youth.

The patient education website will serve as the active comparator. The purpose is to control for time, attention, and online usage. Youth and parents will be provided access to an education website containing information about pediatric surgery at the same time interval as the active intervention; however, there will be no exposure to cognitive and behavioral coping skills. Similar to the CBT condition, the presurgery period of Education will be administered for one month prior to surgery and the postsurgery period will be administered for one month after the post-discharge assessment.