Perspectives of patients with chronic pain about a pain science education video

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Patients have responded in variable ways to pain science education about the psychosocial correlates of pain. To improve the effectiveness of pain education approaches, this study qualitatively explored participants’ perceptions of and responses to pain science education.

Methods

We conducted a qualitative content analysis of interviews with fifteen, adult patients (73.3% female) who had recently attended a first visit to a chronic pain clinic and watched a pain science educational video.

Results

Participants thought it was important to improve their and healthcare providers’ understanding of their pain. They viewed the video favorably, learned information from it, and thought it could feasibly facilitate communication with their healthcare providers, but, for many participants, the video either did not answer their questions and/or raised more questions. Participants’ responses to the video included negative and positive emotions and were influenced by their need for confirmation that their pain was real and personal relevance of the pain science content.

Conclusion

Study results support the feasibility and value of delivering pain science education via video and increase our understanding of patients’ perceptions of and responses to pain science education. The video’s triggering of emotional responses warrants additional research.

KEYWORDS:

• Pain beliefs
• pain neuroscience education
• variable outcome

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by grant number R24HS022140 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. We would like to thank Jackie Griffen and Mary Hodson for their contributions to the research and our research participants.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [R24HS022140].