Investigation of Chronic Pain Patients’ Experiencess
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Topic Modelling of Chronic Post-Stroke Pain, Painful Diabetic Neuropathy and Fibromyalgia Patients’ Lived Experiences
IRAS ID
325137
Contact name
Andrew Marshall
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 0 days
Research summary
Chronic pain impacts millions of people across the world. It may arise after health complications, in cases of Central Post-Stroke Pain (CPSP) or Painful Diabetic Neuropathy (PDN), or without a clear pathology, such as Fibromyalgia (FM). These three conditions combined are expected to affected 4.5 to 6 million people across UK. While treatment options are still being researched and developed for these conditions, there is a lack of understanding of factors impacting patient journey and quality of life. The purpose of this research project will be to investigate lived experiences of patients suffering from CPSP, PDN, or FM. Participants will be recruited from Aintree University Hospital NHS Trust, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, The Pain Research Institute, and online forums. 20 patients per each chronic pain group will be invited to an online interview to discuss their patient experience. The interview will be recorded and transcribed.
Edited transcripts of these interviews will be analysed using Python Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), which is a machine learning algorithm created to objectively extract most prevalent topics in bodies of text. Each chronic pain group will be analyzed individually using LDA to identify the most important topics in their patient experiences. These topics will be compared using cosine similarity function which will show how similar or different the topics are across all three groups. LDA will then be used on a single body of text compiled of all three chronic group interviews to identify overarching themes which will be qualitatively analyzed using supporting quotations.
Overarching themes will provide information on main issues that impact chronic pain patients in the UK, while individual group themes will identify challenges that differentiate or bring together chronic pain patients affected by differed conditions. These findings may inform future healthcare policy, and support group discussion.REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EE/0117
Date of REC Opinion
2 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion