Effectiveness of a Pain Science Education Programme in Adolescent Students. (EDEA)

Effectiveness of a Specific Pain Science Education Programme in Adolescent Students. Randomised Controlled Clinical Trial.

The aim of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of a Pain Science Education program to improve the conceptualization of pain in adolescents between 11 and 13 years old, schooled in the first year of Compulsory Secondary Education.

Design: Randomized controlled clinical trial. The primary endpoint of the study was pain conceptualization recorded by a questionnaire. Setting: The participants were school-age children attending a different high school in the province of Barcelona. Participants: Of the 450 potential school participants, 306 agreed to participate. 13 pupils were excluded when applying the eligibility criteria, so the resulting sample was of 293

The experimental group will carry out the sessions of the specific Pain Sciences program. This intervention is based on two educational sessions of 90 and 60 minutes each, separated by one week.

The control group will not perform any specific intervention and will follow their usual academic curriculum.

The Pain Science Education program consists of two workshops, 90 and 60 minutes in length, one week apart. The content of the workshops aims to provide students with information about the contemporary pain paradigm and to re-conceptualize pain.

The Conceptualization of Pain Questionnaire (COPAQ) consist of 15 items and asks respondents to respond if they believe the items/statements to be true or false, although they are allowed to respond undecided. A score of 0 is given to incorrect responses and those marked as undecided; the sum of all the correct answers gives the total score. The higher the score, the better the participant understands the concept of pain.

Inclusion Criteria: to be schooled at the El Cim school to be between 10 and 16 years old (both included) to have or have had pain in the last month; to be able to read and write in Catalan and/or Spanish. Exclusion Criteria: had an intellectual disability and/or cognitive impairment that interfered with their participation had not submitted the informed consent form duly completed and signed by their legal guardians

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