EPPIC is broken down into three phases – Screening (2 weeks), Treatment (4 visits over 10 weeks), and Follow-Ups (3 & 6 months).
Screening
The screening phase begins with a comprehensive interview of your overall health and a non-invasive medical examination conducted by a board-certified urologist or urogynecologist to confirm that you meet study eligibility from a medical perspective. The EPPIC doctor will also confirm that you do not have a different urological condition whose symptoms mimic those of either interstitial cystitis/ bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) or chronic prostatitis/ chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). The interview and medical examination will help determine if you are eligible to participate in the study.
You will complete a limited number of questionnaires that describe the nature of your symptoms and their impact, if any, on different aspects of your life
Treatment
Following the screening phase, you will be assigned at random (for example, by the flip of a coin) to 1 of 2 treatment groups (Treatment Group A or B). If you decide to join the study, you must be willing to accept the treatment that you are assigned because you cannot choose which treatment you will get. This process, called “randomization,” ensures that different therapies are evaluated fairly.
During the treatment phase, participants in Group A or B attend four treatment sessions and also receive two brief telephone calls over a 10-week period. Most clinic visits last about one hour. Treatment is delivered individually, meaning that you meet one-on-one with one of the study doctors. All of our doctors are highly trained, skilled professionals with experience in treating chronic pelvic pain. Both treatments are designed to improve your ability to control pelvic pain, urinary urgency, and/or frequency but differ in their focus. One treatment emphasizes skills building, the other emphasizes education and support.
Follow-Up
Participants will need to return to the clinic two weeks after treatment ends and 3 and 6 months after treatment ends.
These checkup visits will involve an in-person interview that focuses on your level of symptom improvement and if there have been any changes in your health status. At each follow-up visit, you will be asked to complete several questionnaires about your health. The follow-up visits are crucial to helping us understand the immediate and long term benefit participants receive from treatment.