Topical Concurrent Session 3A – How (and how well) does pain-related education work? Balancing pragmatism with the rigor of shams

Description

What is the appropriate amount of enthusiasm we should have for pain-related education based on the available evidence and resources? Research into pain-related education is rapidly accelerating. Comparisons between different types of educational interventions (e.g. ‘real vs placebo’ pain science education) and also between iterations of educational resources (e.g. version 1 vs version 5) are complex and challenging to conduct.

In this session, each speaker will unravel different challenges in pain-related education: Dr Adrian Traeger will explore the development of an ideal educational control group in a research trial of acute low back pain; A/Prof Tasha Stanton will discuss the use of a non-education sham control to account for therapist time/attention used in a feasibility study of painful knee osteoarthritis; Dave Moen will explore an iterative approach to educational resource development in chronic pain; and Dr Joshua Pate will explore how participants can be ‘their own control’ in a Single Case Experimental Design (SCED) study evaluating educational children’s books compared to sham.

At the end of the session there will be a Q&A discussing how well pain-related education works and how to best balance rigor with pragmatism in future projects, so that truly effective (and excellent) resources are developed to facilitate optimal patient outcomes.

Speakers:
Dr Adrian Traeger, University of Sydney, NSW
A/Prof Tasha Stanton, University of South Australia, SA
Dave Moen, Form Physiotherapy, SA