Contemporary Pain Science Education and Physician Assistant Students

July 27, 2026 updated by: Belmont University

The Effect of Pain Neuroscience Education in Masters PA Medicine Education

The goal of this clinical trial was to learn whether a pain science education session could improve physician assistant students' understanding of pain and their beliefs about people with persistent pain.

The main questions were:

Did students' knowledge of how pain works change after the education session? Did students' beliefs about the relationship between pain, physical impairment, and activity change after the session? Were any changes maintained during the remainder of the physician assistant program?

Participants were students enrolled in one physician assistant master's degree program. All students received a four-hour pain science education session and a 30-minute hands-on laboratory session as part of their curriculum. The session explained that pain is affected by biological, psychological, and social factors. It also included case discussions, small-group activities, pain-related screening tools, and demonstrations of selected pain management techniques.

Participants completed questionnaires before the session, immediately afterward, and at three later points during the program. The final questionnaires were completed shortly before graduation. Researchers compared questionnaire scores across these five time points to examine changes in pain knowledge and pain-related beliefs.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This prospective, single-cohort, longitudinal educational intervention study evaluated changes in physician assistant students' pain neuroscience knowledge and pain-related attitudes and beliefs following a multimodal contemporary pain science education session. The study was conducted within a 27-month, master's-level physician assistant program at a single university in the southeastern United States.

The educational session occurred approximately four months after students entered the program. It was delivered during the second semester and consisted of four hours of classroom instruction followed by a 30-minute laboratory component. Classroom instruction incorporated lecture, small-group active learning, discussion, and case-based application. The content presented pain as a multidimensional experience influenced by biological, psychological, social, behavioral, and contextual factors rather than solely by tissue injury or nociception.

Instruction addressed foundational pain neuroscience, pain mechanisms and phenotyping, biopsychosocial contributors to persistent pain, and guideline-informed approaches to pain management. The session also addressed potential unintended consequences of unnecessary diagnostic imaging, medication- or procedure-focused management, premature referral, and language that may increase fear or reinforce beliefs that pain necessarily indicates tissue damage. Students were introduced to selected screening tools used to identify psychosocial factors that may influence pain, function, and recovery.

The laboratory component provided experiential exposure to laterality recognition activities, quantitative sensory testing, and mirror-based techniques. These activities were intended to reinforce concepts discussed during the classroom portion of the session and to demonstrate selected approaches used in the assessment or management of persistent pain.

The study used a repeated-measures design with data collection at five points across the physician assistant curriculum: immediately before the educational session, immediately after the session, approximately four months after the session, at the completion of didactic education approximately 11 months after the session, and shortly before graduation after completion of clinical rotations approximately 23 months after the session.

All students in the cohort received the curricular education. There was no separate control or comparison group, and the intervention was not randomized. Participation in the research involved consenting to the collection and analysis of questionnaire data. Changes in scores over time were examined using repeated-measures statistical methods. Because other coursework and clinical experiences occurred during the follow-up period, the study was designed to evaluate longitudinal associations with the educational session rather than to establish that the session alone caused all observed changes.

The study was approved by the Belmont University Institutional Review Board. Informed consent was obtained from participants before research data collection.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

40

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Tennessee
      • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37212
        • Belmont University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The study population consisted of 40 students enrolled in a single cohort of a 27-month, master's-level physician assistant program at one university in the southeastern United States. Participants had a mean age of 24.9 years; 60% identified as female and 40% as male. Thirty-five participants provided complete data across all five study time points.

Description

Inclusion Criteria - Enrolled in the participating master's-level physician assistant program

Exclusion Criteria

- None

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire (rNPQ)
Time Frame: Over 23 months, from study enrollment to graduation from the academic program
The 12-item Revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire was used to assess pain neuroscience knowledge and has a possible total score ranging from 0 (no items answered correctly) to 12 (all items answered correctly). Each correct answer receives 1 point; incorrect or "undecided" responses receive 0 points. Higher scores represent a better outcome, indicating greater knowledge and understanding of pain neurophysiology
Over 23 months, from study enrollment to graduation from the academic program
Health Care Provider's Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale (HC-PAIRS)
Time Frame: Over 23 months, from study enrollment to graduation from the academic program

The 15-item Health Care Providers' Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale (HC-PAIRS) has a possible total score ranging from 15 to 105:

Minimum: 15 - strongest disagreement that pain justifies impairment, disability, or activity limitation Maximum: 105 - strongest agreement that pain justifies impairment, disability, or activity limitation

Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale, from 1 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree). Higher scores represent a less favorable outcome, indicating stronger beliefs that persistent pain warrants disability and activity restriction. Therefore, lower scores are generally considered more consistent with contemporary biopsychosocial pain care.
Over 23 months, from study enrollment to graduation from the academic program

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Belmont University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sue E Curfman, PT, DHSc, Belmont University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 7, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 19, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

August 19, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 21, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 27, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 30, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 27, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1093

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in Mendeley Data.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Published July 14, 2026, and available indefinitely.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Interested individuals may access the IPD at Curfman, Sue; Best, Will (2026), "Contemporary pain science education and physician associate/assistant students: a longitudinal educational intervention study", Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/68ghnjyk7h.1

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Study Data/Documents

  1. Individual Participant Data Set

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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