The Effect of Pain Education on Chiropractic Students' Understanding of Chronic Pain

In 2011 Briggs et al described pain education at undergraduate level for healthcare professionals as 'woefully inadequate'. Pain Neurophysiology Education (PNE) can improve undergraduates' pain understanding/management, however previous RCTs used single discipline groups and immediate follow-up. Investigation of the effectiveness of this education on students across the multi-professional team with medium-to-long-term follow-up will provide important new information on the generalisability of existing data and whether or not any changes in pain understanding/management are maintained over time.

This study aims to contribute to the development of neuromusculoskeletal chiropractic education by identifying whether or not this education, which aims to up skill healthcare professionals of the future, is effective and can change their behaviours in practice to enhance patient care in chronic pain management. PNE has been shown to be useful in patient care in conjunction with other treatment methods. If this intervention is successful in altering pain attitudes and knowledge in keeping with modern science then students may feel more confident and able to manage pain post qualification. The findings of this study will support or refute the addition of PNE into healthcare professional undergraduate programmes

Inclusion criteria

• Current Chiropractic students enrolled at either: Teesside University; The Welsh institute of Chiropractic - University of South Wales; The AECC University College; McTimoney College of Chiropractic; London Southbank University
• Willing to consent to attending two educational sessions followed by completing questionnaires

Exclusion criteria

• Chiropractic students not actively enrolled at either: Teesside University; The Welsh institute of Chiropractic - University of South Wales; The AECC University College; McTimoney College of Chiropractic; London Southbank University
• Participants will be excluded if they have previously received in depth education on red flags and or pain neurophysiology.
• Students not willing to consent to attending two educational sessions followed by the completion of questionnaires