The Web-Based Pain-at-Work Toolkit With Telephone Support for Employees With Chronic or Persistent Pain: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Feasibility Trial

JMIR Research Protocols · 11 authors, 9 centres

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TL;DR

The primary aim is to establish feasibility parameters like recruitment and acceptability, not to test the intervention's effectiveness.

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The primary objective is to assess the feasibility of conducting a definitive trial by measuring recruitment, retention, intervention fidelity, and acceptability. Secondary aims include exploring employer outcomes and participant-reported outcome measures to inform the design of a future trial. The study will recruit 120 participants from at least 8 workplace clusters in England. Randomization occurs at the cluster level, with participants unblinded. A nested qualitative study will explore acceptability. As a feasibility study, it is not designed to test the clinical effectiveness of the intervention. The main limitation noted is the challenge of recruiting and retaining participants in workplace research. Findings will inform the sample size, outcomes selection, and health economic model for a definitive trial.

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other

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internal medicine

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AI pipeline

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100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10644198

The Web-Based Pain-at-Work Toolkit With Telephone Support for Employees With Chronic or Persistent Pain: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Feasibility Trial

JMIR Research Protocols

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ABSTRACT

Abstract Background Chronic or persistent pain affects one’s ability to work or be productive at work, generating high societal and economic burden. However, the provision of work-related advice and support for people with chronic pain is variable or lacking. The Pain-at-Work (PAW) Toolkit was cocreated with people who live with pain, health care professionals, and employers. It aims to increase knowledge about employee rights and how to access support for managing a painful chronic condition in the workplace and provides advice on lifestyle behaviors that facilitate the management of chronic pain. Objective We aimed to establish the feasibility of conducting a definitive cluster randomized controlled trial comparing access to the PAW Toolkit and telephone support calls from an occupational therapist (PAW) with treatment as usual (ie, standard support from their employer). Our primary outcomes are establishing parameters of feasibility, acceptability, usability, and safety of this digital workplace health intervention. We will assess the candidate primary and secondary outcomes’ feasibility and test research processes for a definitive trial. Methods This is an open-label, parallel 2-arm pragmatic feasibility cluster randomized controlled trial with exploratory health economics analysis and a nested qualitative interview study. We aim to recruit 120 participants from at least 8 workplace clusters (any type, >10 employees) in England. The recruitment of workplaces occurs via personal approach, and the recruitment of individual participants is web based. Eligible participants are vocationally active adults aged ≥18 years with internet access and self-reporting chronic pain interfering with their ability to undertake or enjoy productive work. A restricted 1:1 cluster-level randomization is used to allocate employment settings to PAW or treatment as usual; participants are unblinded to group allocation. Following site- and individual-level consent, participants complete a web-based baseline survey (time 0), including measures of work capacity, health and well-being, and health care resource use. Follow-up is performed at 3 months (time 1) and 6 months (time 2). Feasibility outcomes relate to recruitment; intervention fidelity (eg, delivery, reach, uptake, and engagement); retention; and follow-up. Qualitative evaluation (time 2) is mapped to the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation–Behavior model and will explore intervention acceptability to employees and employers, along with individual and contextual factors influencing the delivery and uptake of the intervention. Results Ethics approval was obtained in March 2023. Trial recruitment began in June 2023. Conclusions The PAW Toolkit is the first evidence-based digital health intervention aimed at supporting the self-management of chronic or persistent pain at work. This study will inform the design of a definitive trial, including sample size estimation, approaches to cluster site identification, primary and secondary outcomes’ selection, and the final health economic model. Findings will inform approaches for the future delivery of this digital health intervention. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05838677 ; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/ NCT05838677 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/51474 Keywords: eHealth, chronic pain, disability, workplace, randomized controlled trial, feasibility

CITATION EXPORT

Holly Blake, Wendy J Chaplin, Elaine Wainwright et al.. The Web-Based Pain-at-Work Toolkit With Telephone Support for Employees With Chronic or Persistent Pain: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Feasibility Trial. JMIR Research Protocols. (2023). https://doi.org/10.2196/51474

AUTHORS

11 · 9 CENTRES

Holly Blake, Wendy J Chaplin, Elaine Wainwright, Gordon Taylor, Paul McNamee, Daniel McWilliams, Victoria Abbott-Fleming, Jain Holmes, Aaron Fecowycz, David Andrew Walsh, Karen Walker-Bone

1School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
2Pain Centre Versus Arthritis, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
3NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom
4Aberdeen Centre for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health (Epidemiology Group), School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
5College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
6Health Economics Research Unit, Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
7Academic Unit of Injury, Recovery and Inflammation Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
8The Patient Voices Committee, British Pain Society, London, United Kingdom
9School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Australia, United Kingdom