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HOPE project illustration by Alice Bontes
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HOPE – Help Overcoming Pain Early

Research project
Active research
Project owner
The Institute of Health and Care Sciences

Short description

Help Overcoming Pain Early (HOPE) aims to promote adolescents´ confidence in their ability to manage and influence their problems with chronic pain. The intervention was developed based on interviews with adolescents and school nurses in western and northern Sweden, as well as on an expert group with school nurses, health coaches, pediatricians and physiotherapists with specialist expertise in mental health. HOPE consists of an educational program that aims to support school nurses to better meet adolescents with recurrent pain problems. The educational material is based on existing evidence of management of pain for adolescents and includes an educational compendium of video-recorded lectures consisting of four areas: (1) Person-centered conversations; (2) Gender perspectives; (3) Stress and pain physiology; & (4) Stress/pain management.

Help Overcoming Pain Early (HOPE) aims to promote young adolescents´  confidence in their ability to manage and influence their problems with recurrent pain. The intervention was developed during the period 2014-2016 based on interviews with adolescents and school nurses in western and northern Sweden, as well as on an expert group with school nurses, health coaches, pediatricians and physiotherapists with specialist expertise in mental health. HOPE consists of an educational program that aims to support school nurses to better meet young people with recurring pain problems. The educational material is based on existing evidence on management of recurrent pain for children and adolescents and includes an educational compendium and video-recorded lectures consisting of four areas: (1) Person-centered conversations; (2) Gender perspective; (3) Stress and pain physiology; and (4) Stress and pain management.

The HOPE intervention was conducted within school health care during the period 2016-2019 and evaluated using qualitative and quantitative methods. In the beginning of 2021, 5 articles have been published on the study. Collected data is currently being analyzed and the results will be presented in a number of scientific journals. The evaluation will form the basis for a continuation in which the HOPE intervention will be developed and implemented in school health.

 

Researchers

Research group

Stefan Nilsson, RN, PhD, Associate Professor, Institute of Health and Care Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Gösta Alfvén, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

Kristina Dalenius, RN, Lerums kommun, Sektor lärande, Lerum, Sweden

Andreas Fors, RN, PhD, Institute of Health and Care Sciences, and University of Gothenburg Centre for Person-Centred Care, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Marie Golsäter, RN, PhD, Child Health Care and Futurum, Region Jönköping County, Barnhälsovården, Regionens hus, Jönköping, Sweden; CHILD Research Group, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

Mike Kemani, PhD, Department of Clinical Neuroscience (CNS), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Functional Area Medical Psychology, Functional Unit Behavior Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Per-Åke Rosvall, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Educational Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Ulrika Wallbing, PT, MSN, Department of Neurobiology, Care and Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Helena Wigert, RN, PhD, Associate Professor, Institute of Health and Care Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Mari Lundberg, PT, PhD, Professor, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Health and Rehabilitation, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden