Flippin’ Pain Goes to School!

Jaj heads to the high schools of North Yorkshire to evaluate the impact of pain science education

Dr Jaj Mankelow, Community Pain Champion, led Flippin’ Pain to the high schools of North Yorkshire to evaluate the impact of a one-day pain science education event on 16–18-year-olds.

This multi-site, non-randomised controlled, mixed-methods study collected data at three time points: baseline, post intervention, and three-month follow-up. Of the 16-18-year-olds who took part, 30 students made up the intervention group, who received pain science education, and 24 made up the control group who attended their regular classes.

The high school students who attended the pain education event were found to have reductions in biomedical pain beliefs and increases in biopsychosocial beliefs, compared to their control group peers. This shift in understanding was partially sustained at 3 months and was measured with the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire (organic and psychological subscales) and Concepts of Pain Inventory (COPI-Adult), as well as a case vignette assessment.

Jaj and the team also conducted 13 semi-structured interviews for those in the intervention group. These interviews identified an increased awareness of chronic pain and varying degrees of reconceptualisation of pain, towards a biopsychosocial understanding in line with Flippin’ Pain’s 6 key messages.

So, what can we take from this? We can see from the study that attendance at a one-day pain science education event in a school setting was associated with improved knowledge, beliefs, and behavioural intentions regarding persistent pain.

It also highlights the need for a robust mixed-methods randomised control trial of pain education for school children with long-term follow-up. Jaj is already working on this, so watch this space!

In the meantime, you can hear from Jaj herself about the study’s indications and the significance of the research for the future of young people and their wider environment.