Pain Neuroscience Education in Students

To investigate the effect of a 70 minute pain neuroscience education session on physiotherapy students' knowledge of pain and their beliefs and attitudes about the treatment of patients with chronic pain. This study was a single-center, cross-sectional study on the pain knowledge of students in a four-year physiotherapy program and their beliefs and attitudes about patients with back pain.Students were eligible to participate if they were enrolled at physiotherapy undergraduate program at Kütahya Health Sciences University Faculty of Health Sciences. Individuals were excluded if they had previously received in depth-teaching on pain neuroscience. The study was completed with 156 students from different classes (first, second, and third year of the program) who agreed to participate in the study. All participants were informed about the study and signed informed consent forms. Pain neurophysiology questionnaire and Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists were used to assess pain knowladge and attitudes and beliefs. After recording their demographic information, the participants completed the Neuroscience of Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) and Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale for Physiotherapists (PABS-PT) at three time points: pre-PNE, immediately post-PNE, and 6 months after PNE.