ArticleBMC pediatrics2026
Adolescents' understanding of pain and their preferences for learning about pain at school: a cross-sectional survey.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Clinimetric Evaluation of the English Version of the Conceptualization of Pain Questionnaire (COPAQ).The Clinical journal of pain · 2026Article
- Adolescents' understanding of pain and their preferences for learning about pain at school: a cross-sectional survey.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundPain is prevalent in young people, and can significantly impact their physical, social, and psychological health during adolescence and potentially throughout their life. Despite this, there are no well-resourced public health initiatives educating adolescents about pain. Delivering pain education in schools ensures all adolescents have access to evidence-based information about pain. Few studies have delivered pain education to schoolchildren, and none have considered their preferences for learning about pain. We aimed to identify adolescents' (1) understanding of pain, (2) preferences for content of pain education, and (3) preferences for delivery of pain education at school, to inform the development of a school-based pain education module.
methodsWe conducted an online cross-sectional survey of 501 Australian students in grades 7-10 (mean age = 14 [SD 1.3]; 50.9% male) about their knowledge of pain using the Conceptualization of Pain Questionnaire, and their preferences for learning about pain at school. Participants were asked about their preferences for pain education content, who they would like to deliver the pain education and using which delivery mode (in-person, online or a combination, with branching logic for specific options). Free-text options were included for preferences not listed. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics; measures of central tendency (depending on the distribution of data) for continuous variables and proportions for categorical variables.
resultsAim 1) on average, participants scored approximately half (mean=7.4 [SD 2.5]) of the fifteen pain knowledge items correct. Aim 2) participants preferred to learn about ways to treat pain (70.5%), different types of pain (67.1%) and the role of the brain and nerves in pain (62.1%). Aim 3) most preferred to be taught about pain by health professionals (84.4%), followed by teachers (48.3%). Nearly half (48.7%) preferred to be taught using a combination of online and in-person approaches with the highest preference for educational video and class discussion (67.6%).
conclusionsAdolescents have some beliefs about pain and injury that do not align with current scientific understanding of pain. These misconceptions could be addressed in pain education at school. School-based pain education programs should include content that aligns with their preferences and use a combination of online and in-person approaches to engage adolescents.
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