CRPS Dyads
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Challenges of being in a Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Dyad
IRAS ID
147604
Contact name
Jacqueline Bailey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic pain condition that significantly impacts on the quality of life of individuals and their families. The main symptom is pain and this results in motor dysfunction and psychological distress. In the recent UK guidelines there are four pillars of treatment, two of these include education and self-management. The latter has been defined as the individual’s ability to manage the symptoms, treatment, physical and psychosocial consequences, and life style changes inherent in living with a chronic condition. Learning how to self-manage is a difficult skill, therefore patients often benefit from support from significant others. However, little is known about the needs of the support partner in a CRPS dyad or on how the support is operationalised between the two. At present no education/training regarding CRPS is offered to carers or partners at the RNHRD. The literature demonstrates that the success of an intervention to improve support within the dyad depends partly on the type of training offered and also on the style of communication already existing in the dyad. The aims of this project would be:
a) To discover the patterns of communication and collaboration between someone living with CRPS and their support partner;
b) To discover any future training needs the couple may have in understanding the importance of rehabilitation strategies and how this might work in practice
c) To discover if the best way forward would be a psychosocial intervention that would involve both individuals together, or separately, or a mixture of both.
This project would be carried out over approximately 6 months and would be a qualitative study, where the couples (up to 20) would be interviewed together and the interviews then analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NE/0041
Date of REC Opinion
5 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion