Cancer-related pain remains one of the most distressing symptoms for cancer patients and survivors, leading to a significant decline in functional disability, and a negative impact on quality of life. Clinical guidelines advocate for non-pharmacologic therapies and self-management for chronic pain, but challenges exist for implementation. Acupuncture is included in current guidelines for chronic pain and barriers exist as acupuncture involves frequent office visits, high costs, and lack of adequate access to licensed acupuncturists. Auricular point acupressure, which is formally described as the application of acupuncture-like stimulation to specific points on the ear (acupoints), is a pri...

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Cancer-related pain remains one of the most distressing symptoms for cancer patients and survivors, leading to a significant decline in functional disability, and a negative impact on quality of life. Clinical guidelines advocate for non-pharmacologic therapies and self-management for chronic pain, but challenges exist for implementation. Acupuncture is included in current guidelines for chronic pain and barriers exist as acupuncture involves frequent office visits, high costs, and lack of adequate access to licensed acupuncturists. Auricular point acupressure, which is formally described as the application of acupuncture-like stimulation to specific points on the ear (acupoints), is a prime solution for the unmet challenges in pain management. Although auricular point acupressure has a long history in Asia, it is not widely available in the current health care system as of now. We have successfully developed a smartphone app as a self-guided tool (mAPA) to support self-administered auricular point acupressure for pain. Based on our pilot data, we found the 4-week intervention demonstrated the feasibility of the app to support self-administered APA among patients with chronic pain. We plan to evaluate the app as an autonomous tool to self-administer auricular point acupressure to manage cancer-related pain. If proved effective, auricular point acupressure could be an inexpensive and self-management for cancer-related pain. This project tackles critical issues in health disparities, particularly within a low resource framework and addressing unmet cancer-related pain. The overall impact of this study is to expand the accessibility of evidence-based treatment to patients in order to manage their pain through self-management approach. In particular, this project will facilitate a paradigm shift from a broader disease-based biomedical model to a broader integrative medicine approach to augment care, promote access, and facilitate self-management.

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