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Completed

NCT Number: NCT03710837

The Effect of Pain Education on Multidisciplinary Healthcare Students' Understanding of Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide affecting just under 28 million people in the UK. Chronic pain conditions require a biopsychosocial rather than a biomedical model of care. Biomedical management lacks evidence of effectiveness but also has the potential to exacerbate the condition by raising fears and anxiety about potential pathological abnormalities.

Healthcare professionals often hold negative beliefs about people with chronic pain and view the condition within a biomedical framework. These negative attitudes can be observed at the pre-registration training stage of the health professionals' career. Thus, the pre-registration phase is an important point where an individual's understanding of, and beliefs about, pain and people with pain may be shaped for the future. The need for improved and better education of healthcare professionals to support best practice for low back pain with the aim of integrating professionals' management of low back pain and fostering innovation in practice is well recognised. This study seeks to quantify the benefits of pain education in knowledge, attitudes and beliefs. The findings may encourage other pre-registration institutions to deliver pain education in a more directed way and simultaneously support the International Association for the Study of Pain's (IASP) proposed integration pain education into existing curriculum.

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Key information

Conditions

Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Behavior

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Teesside University

Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX, United Kingdom

About this study

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 physiotherapy 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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

No previous pain education

  • Pre-registration student at Teesside University in one of following six disciplines: paramedics, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, midwifery, nursing, diagnostic radiography.

Exclusion criteria

In depth previous pain education

  • Disciplines other than those listed above

Treatment and study plan

Pain neuroscience education

Other

Two different lectures covering essential clinical skills but one designed to explore the hypothesis

Other names: Red flag education

Red Flag Education

Other

Two different lectures covering essential clinical skills but one designed to explore the hypothesis

Other names: Pain neuroscience education

Primary outcomes

  1. HC-PAIRS questionnaire

    Time frame: 6 months

    Health Care Providers Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale - assessing attitudes and beliefs towards pain using a 13 item validated questionnaire. High score is a worse outcome. Scores range from 13-91.

  2. Revised Neurophysiology Quiz

    Time frame: 6 months

    Measures knowledge of pain physiology using a 12 point validated questionnaire. Low score is poor sign. Scores range from 0-12.

  3. Case vignette

    Time frame: 6 months

    Measures clinical practise behaviours in pain management. A validated proxy measure of clinical behaviour, MCQ weighted as appropriate or inappropriate according to current national clinical guidelines. A low score is good, and scores range from 4 to 20.

  4. Red flag knowledge

    Time frame: 6 months

    Measures knowledge of red flags. Low score is a poor sign. Scores range from 0-10.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Teesside University

Other

Registry information

Official study title

The Effect of Pain Education on Multidisciplinary Healthcare Students' Understanding of Chronic Pain, Clinical Recommendations and Attitudes Towards People With Chronic Pain: a Mixed-methods Randomised Controlled Trial

Important dates

Study start
2018
Primary completion
2019
Study completion
2019
First posted
Oct 18, 2018
Registry last updated
Mar 23, 2020

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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