Study aims
This project aims to improve understanding of the self-management challenges experienced by young people living with chronic pain by
- identifying exactly what it is that young people with musculoskeletal chronic pain (MCP) need to do to effectively self-manage their pain,
- co-developing a tool to accurately measure how well young people can complete different self-management tasks,
- testing how executive functioning develops differently in young people with and without MCP, and
- identifying how differences in executive functioning, socio-economic status, and parental support influence young people’s ability to complete self-management tasks.
Our research questions
To achieve these aims, the project will answer 6 unique research questions:
- What are the key self-management tasks required to effectively manage MCP?
- How can we appropriately, and most effectively, assess young people’s engagement with these key self- management tasks?
- Do executive functioning (EF) skills develop differently in young people with & without MCP?
- How does socioeconomic status (SES) influence the development of EF in young people with and without MCP?
- How do EF skills influence engagement with self-management tasks & pain interference in young people with MCP?
- How do environmental inequalities, such low SES & lack of parental support, influence engagement with self-management tasks & pain interference in young people with MCP?
How will we answer these questions?
The project consist of 3 related work packages to answer these 6 research questions and achieve its aims.