Interpersonal factors and treatment outcomes in chronic pain

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The relationship between interpersonal factors and treatment outcomes in chronic pain

• IRAS ID

  246178

• Contact name

  Rachel Crone

• Contact email

  rachel.crone-2@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  The University of Manchester

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 10 months, 4 days

• Research summary

  There is evidence that the quality of a person’s relationships with others can affect how they cope with, and respond to treatment for, health conditions such as chronic pain. This study has been designed to help us understand why this is and how this works. To do this, we will collect information about the interpersonal relationships of people with chronic pain and investigate whether this predicts their psychological outcomes following multidisciplinary treatment for their condition. We are specifically interested in how people with chronic pain and their partners interact with each other, with a particular focus on how validating or invalidating their romantic partner is. We are also going to focus on how people with chronic pain relate to others more broadly by measuring their attachment style, which may relate to how they perceive validating or invalidating utterances from their partner. We are also going to measure partners’ attachment styles to investigate if differences between attachment style within the couple are related to poorer treatment outcomes.
  The study will involve patients who have recently completed (~ 3months) multidisciplinary treatment for chronic pain. Posters advertising the study will be displayed within pain clinic treatment areas. Patients who have previously consented to allow researchers to contact them regarding future studies will be contacted by a member of their care team and invited to take part. The study will involve patients and their partners attending the pain management programme department and taking part in a short discussion task (~20 mins) about how chronic pain has affected their life together and their relationship. Patients and partners will also be asked to fill out short questionnaires. The patient will then be asked to complete pain outcome measures again (~3 months later) to examine if there are any differences.

• REC name

  North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/NW/0529

• Date of REC Opinion

  24 Sep 2018

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion