Flourishing and Adolescent Chronic Pain V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring flourishing among adolescents with chronic pain and their parents: A longitudinal study
IRAS ID
290950
Contact name
Ryan Parsons
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bath
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 31 days
Research summary
Chronic pain can be severe and disabling, having an adverse impact on the life of the child and resulting in impaired physical, school related and psychological functioning. Rates of chronic pain prevalence typically increase during adolescence and studies report that 35% of adolescents living with chronic pain will also experience chronic pain as adults, which makes understanding and treating pain in this group essential.
Recent studies have begun to examine how individuals may adapt in a positive way to their experience of pain, including how adolescents and their families may report flourishing as a result of living with chronic pain over time. There is currently no detailed understanding of the nature of the positive changes that adolescents who live with chronic pain and parents of adolescents who live with chronic pain may report, and when such changes are reported within the pain journey.
Potential participants will primarily be recruited in clinical settings when they attend for appointments as well as through pain charities. Using an online battery of psychometrically robust measures completed at two time points (0 and 6 months), this study will explore the relationship between flourishing reported by adolescents and parents, with 1) adolescent pain related outcomes and 2) vulnerability factors. Furthermore, this study will explore the relationship between adolescent and parental flourishing. The longitudinal focus of this study will generate important data, concerning both whether flourishing is associated with positive outcomes, and importantly, whether flourishing changes over time.
Findings will be used to provide important insights into the meaning and impact of flourishing in the context of adolescent chronic pain. This knowledge will direct new ways to encourage adolescents living with chronic pain and their families to maintain or engage with flourishing strategies, with the overall aim of reducing pain related disability and improve well-being.
Summary of Study Results:
This study sought to examine relationships between flourishing and four pain-related outcomes in adolescent chronic pain. Flourishing was conceptualized as high levels of well-being, and positive change or outcomes. Our study findings showed that although adolescents living with chronic pain displayed low levels of flourishing mental health overall, this domain of flourishing was significantly negatively associated with all outcome variables, apart from pain intensity. The remaining domains of flourishing, namely benefit finding and posttraumatic growth, were both significantly negatively associated with social and family functioning impairment, while posttraumatic growth was also significantly negatively associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Additionally, flourishing mental health significantly contributed to explaining lower levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and lower levels of social and family functioning impairment in our hierarchical regression models, while benefit finding significantly contributed to explaining higher levels of pain intensity.REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0078
Date of REC Opinion
27 Apr 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion