Poster Presentation Sydney Spinal Symposium 2025

Developing Pain Smart: Exploring what adolescents understand about pain and their preferences for learning about pain at school (#13)

Isabelle Bogard 1 2 , Steve Kamper 1 2 , Julie Ayre 3 , Jenna Smith 3 , Laura Montgomery 1 2 , Christopher Williams 1 4 , Joshua Pate 5 , Mariana Leite 6 , Andrew Sortwell 7 8 , Jonah Gorringe 9 , Georgia Gordon 9 , Tie Yamato 1 2 10
  1. School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, Penrith, NSW, Australia
  3. Sydney Health Literacy Lab, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. Research and Knowledge Translation Directorate, Mid North Coast Local Health District , C/o Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia
  5. Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  6. Masters and Doctoral Program in Physiotherapy, University of Sao Paulo City, Sao Paulo, Brazil
  7. School of Health Science and Physiotherapy, University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, NSW, Australia
  8. Research Centre in Sports, Health and Human Development, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal
  9. Adolescent consumer representatives, Sydney
  10. Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney Local Health District and University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Background

School-based pain education has been recognised as a priority for pain management in Australia. We aimed to explore what adolescents know about pain and their preferences for learning about pain at school to inform the development of a school-based education module.

Methods

We conducted two studies; i) qualitative study exploring adolescents’ experiences and beliefs about pain, and ii) cross-sectional survey to identify what adolescents understand about pain, and their preferences for learning about pain. Eligible participants were adolescents in years 7-10 at secondary schools. For the qualitative study, we recruited 25 participants to participate in online semi-structured interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using Framework Analysis. We recruited 501 participants for the survey, and we used descriptive statistics.

Results

Three themes were generated from the qualitative study: 1) physical and psychological pain are distinct, 2) psychological and contextual factors influence how someone reacts to physical pain, and 3) physical pain matters if it impacts participation in meaningful activities. Our findings identify areas where adolescents’ understanding does not align with current scientific understanding of pain, and hence areas to target in pain education. In the survey, participants scored an average of 7.4 of the 15 COPAQ items correct. Adolescents would like to learn about pain using a combination of in-person and online approaches, with educational video and class discussion (67%), delivered by healthcare professionals (84%) and including content about ways to manage pain (71%), different types of pain (67%) and the role of the brain and nerves in pain (62%).

Conclusion

School-based pain education should broaden adolescents’ understanding of pain beyond injury and reconceptualise pain as an individual sensory and emotional experience. Pain education should also include information how to manage pain, particularly focusing on how psychosocial strategies can be useful for pain management.