We are currently developing and evaluating this course ...

Youth Pain Course

Background

We are currently developing a free, internet-delivered, pain management program for adolescents.

We know a number of young people have chronic pain which affects their life. Pain interferes with school, sports, friendships, and home life and impacts how adolescents feel about themselves and their overall wellbeing. Even though chronic pain is quite common for adolescents in Australia, there are not a lot of specialist pain services or professionals available to help young people, and their families, manage the pain.

The Youth Pain Course is being designed to provide good, evidence-based, information about chronic pain and to teach practical skills for adolescents to manage the impact of their pain. We hope the course will help young people reduce the limitations the pain has on their life, and allow them the best opportunity to live a normal adolescent life. Different to our other courses, this one is only for people under 18.

To learn more about chronic pain, please click here.

Who is the course suitable for?

The course is suitable for:

Youth aged 12 to 17 years
Living in Australia
Who have been experiencing pain for more than 3 months
Have access to the internet via a computer, tablet or phone
Want to learn skills to limit the impact of pain on their life and improve how they feel
Have the time to spend working on the course and practicing the skills taught
Be living with a parent, guardian or adult caregiver who is also interested in taking a caregiver version of the course

Unfortunately, we cannot include youth who are currently suicidal, do not have access to the Internet or who are not living in Australia. We also strongly recommend people discuss their participation in this course with their GP and other doctors.

What does the course involve?

The course involves:

Online modules that provide important information about pain and practice skills to manage pain
Video and audio to help with learning and practicing the pain management skills
Lots of additional information on difficulties related to pain (e.g., sleep, attending school)
Examples of how other adolescents who have chronic pain have worked through the course
Brief contact with a psychologist via email and telephone.

The Youth Pain Course aims to provide information and skills that adolescents would normally receive from a Clinical Psychologist, if they attended a specialist Pain Clinic. Pain Management by different specialists (e.g., a doctor, physiotherapist, psychologist) is best practice and it is now recognised that the skills taught by psychologists can really help young people to manage the impact of pain on their lives.

We know that some kids (and their caregivers) have unfortunately been told that their pain may be imaginary, or in all their mind. We don’t agree with this. We know all pain is real. The Youth Pain Course will be designed to help young people cope with the very real pain they experience, by reducing the impact pain has on their life, and improve how they feel day to day, despite the pain.

Caregivers will have access to the same course materials as their child. Caregivers will also access specifically tailored information to assist them in understanding and supporting their child living with chronic pain, and they will have contact with a psychologist via email and phone.

What have we found so far?

This is the first time we are offering the Youth Pain Course. However, it provides all of the information and teaches the same skills you would learn from a psychologist face-to-face. So we expect it will be just as helpful.

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.

We are currently planning our first trial of the Youth Pain Course. We will update with more detail when available.

When is the next course being offered?

We are not sure when we will be able to offer the Youth Pain Course, unfortunately.

If you are interested in participating, please click on the 'register now' button below. We will then email you as soon as the course becomes available.

In the meantime, we strongly recommend adolescents continue with their current pain management plan. If you are caring for an adolescent who has chronic pain (or are an adolescent with chronic pain) who has not yet sought treatment, we recommend you work with your GP or paediatrician to learn how to access the most appropriate pain management options.