Digital Self-Management for Chronic Low Back Pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Realist Review of Digital Self-Management Programs for People with Chronic Low Back pain. What works? How does it work? Who does it work for? and in What Context?
IRAS ID
272423
Contact name
Trish Gorely
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Highlands and Islands
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
Increasing numbers of people are living with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Supporting people to self-manage CLBP condition is part of the national healthcare strategy. Using digital technology to assist with self-managing CLBP might be a cost-effective and convenient solution for the healthcare service and end-user. However, little is known about how digital self-management programs might help people with CLBP; or who are most likely to benefit from them and in what context they work best. This project looks at a wide variety of literature to try to fill these knowledge gaps. Throughout the study key individuals (known as ‘stakeholders’) will be consulted to help guide the research process. This stakeholder feedback will be used by the researcher to inform further searches in the literature. Being guided by stakeholders helps to ensure the research remains focused on issues that are meaningful to them. There will be three stakeholder groups; one consisting of ‘professionals’ in the field of self-management and two ‘experiential’ groups; an urban group (from Inverness and surrounding areas) and a rural group (from Skye and surrounding areas). Both experiential groups will consist of people who are self-managing CLBP or other long-term medical conditions. Professional stakeholders will be recruited by personal invitation and experiential stakeholders will be recruited from third sector institutions and from the NHS Highland Chronic Pain Service. All stakeholders will be sent a Participant Information Sheet and consented prior to each consultation. In the first two consultations, stakeholders will be asked for their opinion on the theories coming from the literature and in the final consultation the stakeholders will be asked on how best to distribute the research findings. Data collection will be March 2021 – September 2022. The project is funded by Inverness and Highland City Region Deal.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
20/WS/0041
Date of REC Opinion
5 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion