Predictors of Self-management in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain
Condition: Low Back Pain
MeSH terms: Back Pain; Low Back Pain
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      Supported self-management (SM) is one of the key recommendations in management of chronic low
      back pain (CLBP). SM programmes for patients with CLBP have failed to show clinically
      meaningful improvement in pain and disability markers, which potentially reflect the lack of
      treatment matching of SM programmes. Patient selection for a SM programme for patients with
      CLBP is particularly difficult due to lack of extensive research on what predicts SM and its
      change. The overarching purpose of this study is to identify predictors of SM and its change
      over time in patients with CLBP. This study is a prospective non-experimental longitudinal
      study.
    

Detailed description: 
      Materials and methods: Patients will be recruited at baseline from the physiotherapy
      outpatient clinics. Three different methods have been planned to identify suitable patients
      in this study: from the outpatient clinics, through advertisements and therapist referrals to
      the study. All willing participants will be screened against the study selection criteria.
      Eligible participants will be provided with a pre-approved information sheet and verbal
      explanation about the study before obtaining written consent. The consenting patients will be
      requested to fill in the baseline questionnaire. The patients will be requested to fill the
      follow up questionnaire after six months from their baseline data collection via an online,
      telephone or paper-based questionnaire depending on their preference. Data required for the
      necessary agreement between paper-based and online or telephone survey, will be collected
      from up to 60 participants within two weeks from their baseline data collection. All patients
      will receive and continue their normal treatment as recommended by their primary care team. A
      participant may be withdrawn by the investigators, involved in major trauma or undergoes
      surgery, or a female participant becomes pregnant during the course of the study. Sample size
      was estimated using G*Power (version 3.1.5). The statistical analyses will be performed using
      a statistical software (IBM SPSS 22) with statistical significance set at p<0.05 for the
      entire analysis, unless mentioned. Descriptive statistics, interclass correlation
      coefficients, Bland-Altman limits of agreement plots, significance testing, correlations and
      regression analyses will be employed.
    

Intervention name(s): no intervention
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Patients will be allowed to continue their usual treatment as recommended by their care team.
Observational model: Other
Time perspective: Prospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        The study will include community ambulant adult patients attending or recently attended
        outpatient physiotherapy treatment for their chronic low back pain.
      
Keywords: low back pain; chronic pain; self-management; longitudinal study; predictive modelling