Research so far on this course ...

We have conducted > 8 trials of this course

More than 3,000 participants have enrolled in this course

We have published > 10 studies evaluating this course

Endometriosis Pain Course

Background

The Endometriosis Pain Course is a new, free internet-delivered pain management program designed to provide good information and teach practical skills for managing the impacts of chronic pain (associated with endometriosis) on day-to-day activities and emotional wellbeing. This course is a modified version of the Pain Course, which has been developed over the last ten years based on feedback from thousands of people (many with endometriosis) living with chronic pain.

We developed the Endometriosis Pain Course because research tells us that chronic pain has a very significant impact on people’s lives and their emotional wellbeing. We also know that many people with endometriosis face ongoing challenges and difficulties trying to manage their pain alongside other responsibilities, which often affects their quality of life and emotional wellbeing.

Research shows that people with chronic pain related to endometriosis, especially chronic pelvic pain, have a higher risk of poor emotional wellbeing. This includes having a higher risk of stress, anxiety, worry, low mood, sadness, hopelessness, and depression. Many people have limited access or time to access help in managing the impact of their pain or their emotional wellbeing.

We know from research that people can benefit from participating in pain management programs, which provide access to good information about chronic pain and teach several core self-management skills to manage its impacts. However, these programs are often only available via specialist pain management services (located in major hospitals) which many people find difficult to access - especially when living outside of major cities.

We developed this course with the aim of helping people to limit the impacts of endometriosis-related pain on their daily lives, and to maintain good emotional wellbeing despite their physical symptoms.

To learn more about endometriosis, please click here.

What conditions have previous participants had alongside endometriosis?

It is common for people to have other chronic health conditions in addition to endometriosis. Some common chronic health conditions of our previous participants include:

Chronic pain
Gastrointestinal diseases and conditions (e.g., IBS, Crohn’s, Celiac)
Adenomyosis
Back pain
Fibromyalgia
Migraine and headache
Post-surgical pain
And many, many more.

Who is the course suitable for?

The course is suitable for:

Adults aged 18 and older.
With endometriosis diagnosed by a medical doctor or medical specialist
With chronic pain associated with the endometriosis, with the pain managed by a medical doctor
With pain that is impacting their emotional wellbeing, day-to-day activities and overall quality of life
Who want to learn information and skills to limit the impact of their condition and improve their emotional wellbeing
Who have at least 4 hours per week to spend working on the Course and practicing the skills taught during the Course

Unfortunately, we cannot include people who are currently suicidal, or those do not have access to the Internet. Currently, the Course is open only for people living in Australia. We also strongly recommend people discuss their participation in this course with their GP and other doctors. Maintaining a good working relationship with your doctors is essential when you have a chronic health condition and chronic pain, and they can help you decide whether this program is going to be suitable for you.

What does the course involve?

The course involves:

5 online lessons that provide information and teach practical self-management skills
DIY Guides to help understand and practice those skills
Lots of Additional Resources and Case Stories and examples from others
Brief weekly contact with a clinician via email and telephone (not available in all courses)

The course is delivered over 8 weeks and is designed to provide good information (based on research) and teach practical skills for managing the impacts of chronic pain related to endometriosis and maintaining good emotional wellbeing. The course is not designed to 'treat' or 'cure' chronic pain or endometriosis. However, the information and skills covered have been found in 100s of research trials to be helpful for people with chronic pain. We therefore have good reason to believe that these skills and information can be beneficial to people with health conditions, like endometriosis, where chronic pain is a common symptom.

This course aims to provide the information and skills that you would normally receive from a Clinical Psychologist if you attended a specialist pain management service. However, because many people cannot access these facilities, we are developing and testing this internet-delivered course - our goal is to make it as helpful as possible and to make it freely and widely available.

Please note: Many people with chronic pain have had the regrettable experience of being told their pain is psychological or all in their mind. Please be assured that all pain is real. The Endometriosis Pain Course is designed to help people manage the impacts of the very real pain their experience and to maintain their quality of life despite pain.

What have we found so far?

This is the first time we are offering the Endometriosis Pain Course. However, this course provides all the information and teaches the same skills as the original Pain Course – so we expect that it will be just as helpful for people with endometriosis.

The original Pain Course has had 1000s of participants who have reported improvements in:

Day-to-day activity levels and abilities
Stress and anxiety
Low mood and depression
Average pain levels and pain fluctuations

Although the course is hard work, more than 90% of participants are also reporting the course is worth their time and that they'd recommend it to others.

Based on these encouraging results, we hope that participants in the Endometriosis Pain Course will find it helpful and relevant to assisting their emotional wellbeing and quality of life.

Some of the key papers we have published on the original Pain Course are:

Dear BF, Karin E, Foglitati R, Dudeney J, Nielssen O, Scott AJ, Gandy M, Bisby MA, Heriseanu AI, Hathway T, Staples L, Titov N, Schroeder L. (2022). The Pain Course: A randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of an internet-delivered pain management program. Pain, 163, 1388-1401.
Dear BF, Gandy M, Karin E, Ricciardi T, Fogliati VJ, McDonald S, Staples LG, Nicholson Perry K, Sharpe L, Nicholas MK, Titov N. (2017). The Pain Course: A randomised controlled trial comparing a remotely-delivered chronic pain management program when provided in online and workbook formats. Pain, 158, 1289 – 1301.
Friesen LN, Hadjistavropoulos HD, Alberts NM, Schneider LH, Titov N, Dear BF. (2017). Examination of an Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioural Pain Management Course for Adults with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Pain, 158, 593 – 604.
Dear BF, Gandy M, Karin E, Staples LG, Johnston L, Fogliati V, Wootton BM, Terides MD, Kayrouz R, Nicholson Perry K, Sharpe L, Nicholas MK, Titov N. (2015). The Pain Course: A randomised controlled trial examining an internet delivered pain management program when provided with different levels of clinician support. Pain, 156, 1920-1935.
Dear BF, Titov N, Nicholson Perry K, Johnston L, Wootton BM, Terides MD, Rapee RM, Hudson JL. (2013). The Pain Course: A randomised controlled trial of clinician-guided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy program for managing chronic pain and emotional wellbeing. Pain, 154, 942-950.

What is the current trial or study looking at?

Every time we offer a course we offer it as a part of a trial or study. This means that participants are helping us to answer an important research question while they participate in our courses.

The current trial of the Endometriosis Pain Course is examining its effectiveness and helpfulness to people with endometriosis, particularly where the pain is interfering with emotional wellbeing and quality of life.

You can read more about the current trial by reading the Participant Information and Consent Form Statement.

When is the next course being offered?

We are currently not sure when we will run this course again.

We are running our last few participants through our most recent trial of the course. We will then be examining all the data and feedback collected through that trial. This work will guide our next steps and any potential changes to the course or how we offer it into the future.

Importantly, if you are interested in the course, you can register your interest via the link below. We will then email you with any updates when we are next offering the course.