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Article History

Received: 30 December 2024

Accepted: 18 November 2025

First Online: 6 January 2026

Declarations

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: Stanford University owns the copyright and trademark to Empowered Relief. Stanford University receives fees for Empowered Relief CME/CEU interprofessional clinician certification workshops; Dr. Darnall receives no personal monies for Empowered Relief or for clinical certifications. An NIH career development grant to Dr. Darnall (NIDA K24 DA053564) supported the project by specifically funding her time to conduct the research; no other external support was received to conduct the study. Dr. Darnall has authored or coauthored five pain treatment books for patients and clinicians and receives royalties for four. Dr. Darnall is the principal investigator for pain research grants and awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Patient-Centered Research Outcomes Research Institute, including two NIH grants and one PCORI award that is investigating versions of Empowered Relief in different patient populations. Dr. Darnall is chief science advisor to AppliedVR and this is a compensated role that is unrelated to the current study. Dr. Darnall serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Brain Potential. She is a former scientific member of the NIH Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, former member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Opioid Workgroup (2020–2021), and the Pain Advisory Group of the American Psychological Association. All other authors report no competing interests.