The PAW Trial: feasibility and acceptability of the Pain-at-Work Toolkit

This project will test the feasibility and acceptability of the Pain-at-Work toolkit for employers and employees. It is funded in partnership with Versus Arthritis as part of our Oliver Bird Fund.

Why this project is important

Chronic or persistent pain affects around 28 million adults in the UK, reducing quality of life and people’s ability to work or be productive at work. Sickness absence and reduced productivity costs the UK economy £73 billion per year.

Access to work advice and support for people living with pain is variable. Most people with chronic pain do not receive work advice through healthcare services, and employers do not routinely provide education or support for people with chronic pain.  

The Pain-at-Work (PAW) Toolkit was developed by Professor Blake in partnership with people living with chronic or persistent pain, employers, healthcare professionals, and Burning Nights.

The aim is to equip people who have pain with the knowledge, skills and confidence to:

• effectively self-manage a painful condition at work
• access help and support
• enjoy a better work experience
• and remain in the workforce.

Early testing showed positive results.  

Approach

The research team will be performing a feasibility trial, aimed at informing a future randomised controlled trial. The research will be completed in three stages: 

1. Recruiting around eight organisations from different sectors and randomly allocating 120 employees with chronic pain to receive either the PAW toolkit or an active control comparator. Participant-reported outcome measures will be collected at 3 different points via an online survey.  

2. Testing the feasibility of capturing health economic data, such as whether resource use or quality of life measures can be collected from participants; determining if unit cost can be attached to resource use; and identifying variables associated with changes in cost and quality of life.  

3. Conducting a nested interview study consisting of up to 40 interviews with employees who used PAW, line managers, and other support networks. The focus will be on participant’s views on feasibility and acceptability of PAW, trial processes, outcome measures, and any perceived changes in individual or organisational outcomes.  

Upon completion of the three stages, the research team will seek advice from the trial management steering group, and advisory groups to design a future full-scale trial. People with lived experience will be involved at every stage of the project, including the review of study materials and selection of outcome measures.  

Outcomes

This project aims to:

• enable employees to change their self-management to improve their ability to work and be productive at work
• to raise awareness among the workforce about the prevalence of chronic pain
• to share information on how employers can support employees with their condition.

The findings will be disseminated to local government, charitable organisations, think-tanks, researchers, and the public.