Healthy Subjects
Conditions
Keywords
Pain, Physiotherapy students, Attitudes, Education, Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE), The Revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire (RNPQ), The 13-item Modified Health Care Providers Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale (HC-PAIRS), Guideline-Concordant Low Back Pain Vignette (GCLBP-V)
Brief summary
This study investigates the effect of pain neuroscience education (PNE) on pain knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors among undergraduate physiotherapy students in Jordan
Detailed description
Physiotherapy students at the Hashemite University will be randomly assigned into either pain neuroscience education or control lectures groups. Both groups will receive a 70-min didactic group-lecture. The control group will receive education about red-flags which are special screening questions for serious pathology. The red-flags education will discuss tissue pathology and triage for back pain classification. Neurophysiology and the biopsychosocial mode will not be discussed. The intervention group will receive a PNE lecture. All primary and secondary outcome measures consist of validated questionnaires (e.g., RNPQ, HC-PAIRS), except for the study-specific red-flags knowledge test; the study-specific case vignette assessing guideline-concordant low back pain recommendations underwent validation testing before participant recruitment.
Interventions
OTHERPain Neuroscience Education
The intervention group will receive a lecture of 70min duration on pain neuroscience. The objective of this educational session is to educate students that pain can be overprotective, and that nociceptive transmission can be heavily influenced by central sensitisation (sensitivity of the central nervous system) as well as the thoughts and beliefs of the individual. The session used drawings, stories and metaphors to depict the underlying neuroscience of pain, and current pain theory.
OTHERRed Flags Education
The control group received an education session of red flags. Red flags form part of routine subjective practice for therapists as a process of screening serious or potentially sinister pathologies. Sign and symptoms for such pathologies include history of cancer, systemic symptoms such as fever or unexplained weight loss, and saddle analgesia. The red flag session will not include the neuroscience of pain.
Sponsors
The Hashemite University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Physiotherapy undergraduate students at the Hashemite University
Exclusion criteria
* Previous formal pain education * Enrolled in a clinical practice module
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Revised Pain Neurophysiology Questionnaire (RNPQ) | Before and immediately after and 6 months after the education session | The 12-item RNPQ will be used to assess knowledge of pain neurophysiology. Responses are marked yes, no or undecided. One point is awarded for correct answers. Scores range from 0 to 12, with high scores indicating good knowledge. |
| The modified HC-PAIRS | Prior to and immediately and 6 months after the education session | The modified HC-PAIRS (Health Care Providers' Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale will be used to measure attitudes and beliefs towards patients with chronic pain and their ability to function. This 13-item questionnaire uses a 7-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). Scores range from 13 to 91 with lower scores suggesting more positive attitudes. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Guideline-concordant low back pain recommendations assessed using a case vignette | Baseline, immediately after the education session, and 6 months after the education session. | A case vignette will be used to assess participants' vignette-based clinical recommendations for a patient with non-specific low back pain. Participants will answer four multiple-choice questions addressing recommendations regarding usual daily activities, work, exercise, and bed rest. Each domain will be scored as guideline-concordant or non-guideline-concordant according to contemporary low back pain guideline recommendations. The total number of guideline-concordant recommendations will be calculated, with possible scores ranging from 0 to 4; higher scores indicate more guideline-concordant recommendations. The percentage of guideline-concordant recommendations may also be reported. The vignette was developed for this study and psychometrically evaluated before participant recruitment and before its use as a trial outcome, including expert review for content validity, cognitive pretesting, construct validity assessment, test-retest reliability, and measurement error analysis. |
Countries
Jordan
Outcome results
None listed