Contemporary Pain Science Education and Physician Assistant Students

Conditions

• Focus of Study Pain Knowledge

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

18 Years - N/A

Healthy Volunteers

Not accepted

Interventions

• Pain education — OTHER
  Participants received a 4.5-hour multimodal contemporary pain science education session consisting of four hours of classroom instruction and a 30-minute laboratory. The classroom portion used lecture, small-group activities, discussion, and case-based application to address pain neuroscience, pain mechanisms, biopsychosocial contributors to persistent pain, guideline-informed care, screening tools, nocebo language, and potential harms of unnecessary imaging, medications, procedures, and referrals. The laboratory provided hands-on exposure to laterality recognition, quantitative sensory testing, and mirror-based techniques.

Study Details

The goal of this clinical trial was to learn whether a pain science education session could improve physician assistant students' understanding of pain and their beliefs about people with persistent pain. The main questions were: Did students' knowledge of how pain works change after the education session? Did students' beliefs about the relationship between pain, physical impairment, and activity change after the session? Were any changes maintained during the remainder of the physician assistant program? Participants were students enrolled in one physician assistant master's degree program. All students received a four-hour pain science education session and a 30-minute hands-on laboratory session as part of their curriculum. The session explained that pain is affected by biological, psychological, and social factors. It also included case discussions, small-group activities, pain-related screening tools, and demonstrations of selected pain management techniques. Participants completed questionnaires before the session, immediately afterward, and at three later points during the program. The final questionnaires were completed shortly before graduation. Researchers compared questionnaire scores across these five time points to examine changes in pain knowledge and pain-related beliefs.

Key Dates

First listed

Jul 30, 2026

Start date

Sep 7, 2019

Status verified

Jul 2026

Primary completion

Aug 19, 2021

Completion

Aug 19, 2021

Study Design

Enrollment

40 participants (actual)

Primary Outcome Measure

Revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire (rNPQ) [ Time Frame: Over 23 months, from study enrollment to graduation from the academic program ]

Locations (1)

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