Is there a potential future role for teachers in mitigating the chronic pain and opioid epidemics?

Background: Chronic pain in children and adolescents is a widespread and costly public health issue, often leading to long-term biopsychosocial and educational consequences. Contemporary pain neuroscience education (CPNE) delivered by healthcare providers leads to improvements in school attendance, pain medication usage, participation in activities, and healthcare utilization. Education students—future classroom teachers—are well-positioned to mitigate the burden of chronic pain and related opioid misuse among school-aged children. Methods: This pre-post within-subject experimental study delivered CPNE to undergraduate education students through two 75-minute classroom sessions. Participants completed the rNPQ and COPI-adult to assess pain knowledge and beliefs and reported levels of interest, perceived usefulness, and confidence in teaching CPNE. Results: rNPQ and COPI median scores statistically improved with high effect sizes and participants were interested in, perceived usefulness of, and were confident about helping future students understand CPNE. Implications for School Health Policy, Practice, and Equity: CPNE may be part of a broader educational effort to promote learning, reduce opioid dependence among students, and support students experiencing pain. Conclusions: There is an opportunity for teachers to positively impact a culture shift towards non-pharmacologic pain management, potentially mitigating the future burden of chronic pain and suffering in younger generations.研究背景：儿童青少年慢性疼痛是一项高发且耗资巨大的公共卫生问题，常引发长期的生物-心理-社会层面及教育层面的不良后果。由医疗保健从业者开展的当代疼痛神经科学教育（Contemporary Pain Neuroscience Education, CPNE）可改善患者的到校出勤率、止痛药物使用情况、活动参与度及医疗资源使用率。教育专业学生——即未来的中小学教师——能够有效缓解学龄儿童群体的慢性疼痛负担及相关阿片类药物滥用问题。 研究方法：本研究采用前后测受试者内实验设计，通过两次各75分钟的课堂授课，为教育学本科学生开展CPNE教学。参与者完成了修订版疼痛神经生理学问卷（Revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire, rNPQ）与成人慢性疼痛观点量表（Chronic Pain Opinion Inventory-Adult, COPI-adult），以评估其疼痛相关知识与信念，并报告了自身对教授CPNE的兴趣程度、感知有用性及教学信心。 研究结果：rNPQ与COPI-adult的中位数得分均出现具有统计学意义的提升，且效应量较高；参与者对帮助未来学生理解CPNE表现出较高兴趣，认可其教学价值，并具备相应的教学信心。 对学校卫生政策、实践与公平性的启示：CPNE可作为更广泛教育举措的组成部分，助力提升学生学习效果、降低学生阿片类药物依赖，并为受疼痛困扰的学生提供支持。 研究结论：教师可借此契机，积极推动向非药物疼痛管理的文化转变，或可缓解年轻一代未来将面临的慢性疼痛与痛苦负担。