Couples’ experiences of managing low back pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Couples’ experiences of living with low back pain: qualitative interviews with people with low back pain and their partners.
IRAS ID
331897
Contact name
Kate Greenwell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 30 days
Research summary
Why is this topic important?
Low back pain is common and costly, affecting 85% of people in their lifetime. It is the leading cause of disability, and the problem will get bigger as the population grows and gets older. People do not experience pain alone. Low back pain can have a significant impact on the everyday lives of an individual’s partner, as well as the person with low back pain. Partners can have a vital role in supporting people with low back pain to manage the condition. Health programmes that involve both people with health conditions and their partners have been shown to be more beneficial than programmes that just involve the person with the health condition.What we aim to do.
This project aims to improve the support for people with low back pain and their partners by finding out what they need to better live with pain together. We will also test whether our procedures for recruiting participants in the study are practical and effective to help us with future research studies.What is involved?
We will talk to up to 25 couples living with low back pain in the UK. Each couple will include an adult with low back pain and their partner. Each individual will take part in a separate one-hour interview either in person at home, by video chat, or by phone. We will recruit people through GP practices, pain clinics, social media, pain charities (e.g., Versus Arthritis) and by word-of-mouth. We will speak to a wide range of people. We will ask couples what it’s like to live with low back pain, what support they need, and what they would want from a health programme to support them to better live with low back pain.The research is funded by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/YH/0207
Date of REC Opinion
11 Sep 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion