Retention of pain neuroscience knowledge: A multi-centre trial

Abstract

Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE) has been shown to increase patient and healthcare provider knowledge of pain. To date, however, no study has examined if that knowledge is maintained over time. Patients suffering from chronic pain were invited to attend a free PNE lecture. Patients were required to complete intake demographics followed by two self-report measures 2 weeks before, 48 hours before, 48 hours after, 6 weeks after and 12 weeks after the PNE lecture. The two self-report measures collected at each interval were pain ratings (numeric rating scale [NRS]) and knowledge of pain (Neurophysiology Pain Questionnaire [NPQ]). Only data from patients who completed these measures at each interval were analysed. A repeated ANOVA was used to analyse the changes in NRS and NPQ over time. Forty-seven patients (11.4 years of pain) completed all five surveys for analysis. The NPQ scores showed significant increases in pain knowledge from 2 weeks pre-PNE to all post-PNE intervals (p = 0.002, p = 0.001, p = 0.005), as well as 48 hours pre-PNE to all post PNE-intervals (p = 0.001, p <0.001, p = 0.001). A single PNE session has the ability to increase pain knowledge, and maintain the increased knowledge 3 months later.