The Manchester Digital Pain Manikin Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Manchester Digital Pain Manikin study: Acceptability and feasibility of a digital manikin app to self-report location-specific pain
IRAS ID
293246
Contact name
Sabine N van der Veer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 29 days
Research summary
Chronic pain is a major cause of disability worldwide. In order to progress pain research, we need better methods to measure pain in large, representative populations. The current study investigates the acceptability and feasibility of a digital pain reporting tool we developed previously, the Manchester Digital Pain Manikin (MDPM) app. The MDPM app aims to support people across ethnic backgrounds with musculoskeletal conditions to report their pain quickly and accurately on their smartphone.
The study consists of two phases. Phase 1 will comprise a series of four 2-hour workshops to understand differences in pain experience and reporting between different ethnic groups, and how that may relate to the acceptability of the MDPM app. As workshop participants, we will recruit up to 30 people from Pakistani, Ethiopian or Chinese backgrounds living with chronic musculoskeletal pain. We will use the workshop findings to further improve the app.
Phase 2 is a feasibility study, for which we will recruit up to 108 people with fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis to self-report their pain for 30 days using the improved MDPM app. To assess feasibility, we will evaluate the maximum number of consecutive days with complete data per participant. In addition to the daily pain reports, participants will complete a baseline and and end-of-study questionnaire online. We will use the end-of-study questionnaire to explore if participants have major concerns with regard to the app’s acceptability.
Based on the findings, we will refine the app to increase its acceptability and feasibility in an ethnically diverse population. This will inform a future grant application to further develop and test the MDPM app. Ultimately, we aim for the MDPM app to become a new standard for measuring pain digitally.
The study is funded by the Medical Research Council’s Confidence in Concept scheme.
REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/PR/0342
Date of REC Opinion
4 May 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion