Pilot Study Evaluating a Brief Chronic Pain Education Program in Occupational Therapy Practitioners, Occupational Therapy Students, and Lay People

Background: Chronic pain and resultant disability can persist long after tissue healing. Past research suggests educating individuals about chronic pain is efficacious in changing knowledge, health beliefs, and healthcare utilization. This study piloted an educational intervention to teach participants about the nature of chronic, nociplastic pain. Design: Pre-post study using three groups: occupational therapy (OT) practitioners, OT students, and lay people. Methods: Participants rated their agreement with four statements pre-intervention regarding the relationship between chronic pain, tissue damage, and activity performance to ascertain accurate knowledge. Participants were presented with studies comparing acute and chronic pain and acknowledging that some people have chronic pain after tissues heal. The intervention lasted approximately fifteen minutes. Results: Eleven OT practitioners, 11 OT students and 18 lay people participated. The entire cohort demonstrated improvements with each statement post-intervention. Lay people demonstrated statistically significant improvements in three statements, OT students in two statements, and none for OT practitioners. OT practitioners demonstrated significantly higher pre-intervention knowledge than students in two statements and lay people in one statement. Lay people had the lowest accurate knowledge pre-intervention, demonstrated by a composite score, but made the greatest improvements post-intervention. Conclusion: This educational program shows promise as an intervention to educate individuals including potential patients, current students, and practicing clinicians about the nature of chronic, nociplastic pain and to address potential incorrect health beliefs regarding pain. The program was brief, included multiple stakeholders, and included easy-to-understand language all key components of successful knowledge translation