Chronic pain occurs most frequently in the elderly. Unfortunately, most pain clinics are located in large urban areas and are not readily accessible to the rural elderly. Recent advances in behavioral medicine have provided pain relief techniques that can be used by a wide variety of professional and paraprofessional workers who do not have sophisticated training in psychology. A program was developed which could apply those techniques to the elderly and which could deliver the treatment to rural clients in their homes. The program was tested on 45 community dwelling rural elderly persons with osteoarthritis. At different points in the project, 11 subjects served as a placebo group and were given an educational program concerning osteoarthritis combined with wellness activities, and 10 subjects served as no treatment controls. The experimental group of 24 subjects received semantic behavior therapy consisting of a combination of imagery and relaxation exercises for the relief of chronic pain. Subjects who received treatment reported significant reduction in pain, especially in the extent to which it interfered with their life. They also showed improvement in overall psychological adjustment, morale, and coping ability following treatment. (NB)