Challenges young people face in managing musculoskeletal chronic pain
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Funded by .
Collaboration with Childrens Health Queensland, Oklahoma State University, University of Alberta and University of Bath.
Chronic pain occurs in up to a third of young people, negatively impacting their ability to attend school/work, socialise with friends, and maintain good mental health (="pain interference"). Intervening early by helping young people to self-manage pain, through medication, exercise, and relaxation, can reduce this interference and improve their daily lives. However, research shows that the long-term effects of self-management interventions are moderate at best, and young people (aged 10 - 24) often have difficulty taking responsibility for self-management tasks. To live an independent life, young people learn how to control and organise their thoughts, behaviours, and emotions (=”executive functioning skills”). These executive functioning skills are pivotal to the successful self-management of chronic pain. However, preliminary evidence suggests that executive functioning skills in young people with chronic pain may develop slowly and may be weakened by chronic pain experiences. This project aims to improve understanding of young people’s difficulties with self-managing their pain, to better support them as they mature, by exploring the role of executive functioning skills in young people’s pain experiences and self-management. This aim will be achieved by answering 3 key research questions: 1) Do executive functioning skills develop differently in young people with and without chronic pain? 2) How do executive functioning skills influence pain-related self-management and pain interference in young people with chronic pain? 3) How can we best assess executive functioning skills within a clinical context?
Total award value ?499,494.87