The Impact of Pain Neuroscience Education on Physical Therapy Students' Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Towards Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The Impact of Pain Neuroscience Education on Physical Therapy Students' Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Towards Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study investigates the effect of pain neuroscience education (PNE) on pain knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors among undergraduate physiotherapy students in Jordan

Physiotherapy students at the Hashemite University will be randomly assigned into either pain neuroscience education or control lectures groups. Both groups will receive a 70-min didactic group-lecture. The control group will receive education about red-flags which are special screening questions for serious pathology. The red-flags education will discuss tissue pathology and triage for back pain classification. Neurophysiology and the biopsychosocial mode will not be discussed. The intervention group will receive a PNE lecture. All primary and secondary outcome measures consist of validated questionnaires (e.g., RNPQ, HC-PAIRS), except for the study-specific red-flags knowledge test; the study-specific case vignette assessing guideline-concordant low back pain recommendations underwent validation testing before participant recruitment.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Physiotherapy undergraduate students at the Hashemite University

Exclusion Criteria:

• Previous formal pain education
• Enrolled in a clinical practice module