About one in four young people experience chronic pain, which can be exacerbated by a lack of support in primary care settings.
Researchers at Curtin University are partnering with young people living with chronic musculoskeletal pain to co-design a digital health solution that supports their pain care and self-management.
This solution will enable personalised and accessible care that meets young people’s needs in their day-to-day lives, ensuring they can access the right care, at the right time, by the right people, and in the right place.
This will fill an accessibility gap for young people impacted by chronic musculoskeletal pain and their clinicians, which is especially relevant in rural and remote settings.
To assist them in developing this solution, the researchers are inviting young people (aged 16-24) who are currently experiencing chronic musculoskeletal pain (pain experienced in muscles, bones, joints, and nerves that has lasted for at least three months) to take part in a short online survey to share their preferences for an AI-enabled digital coach, and any potential concerns they have about using a digital health solution to manage pain.
They are aiming to engage around 200 young people in this co-design activity.
If you are involved in providing care to young people experiencing chronic musculoskeletal pain, please consider assisting with this research by sharing information about this study with your patients and networks. A flyer for the study can be downloaded here.
This digital health solution will build on resources provided by youngpainhealth website, which was co-designed with young people with lived experience of chronic pain and provides best practice strategies for pain self-care.
This project is funded by the Australian Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and Department of Health, WA (Project ID, 2016567; Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval (HRE2022-0588), and is led by Prof Helen Slater and Prof Andrew Briggs from Curtin University, WA.
If you have any questions or would like more please contact Prof Helen Slater (H.Slater@curtin.edu.au) or Dr Sam Rowbotham (Sam.Rowbotham@curtin.edu.au).
Disclaimer: This article was provided by Curtin University. While every effort has been made to ensure the information is accurate, North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network does not warrant or represent the accuracy, currency and completeness of any information or material included within.
