Contemporary Pain Neuroscience Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Pain Among University Students

Purpose: Healthcare education programs often inadequately address contemporary pain neuroscience, leaving future professionals ill-prepared to address the pervasive and biopsychosocial problem of chronic pain. Exploration of the level of understanding of contemporary pain neuroscience and the attitudes toward people in pain among university students may help educators identify appropriate roles for students in pain related interprofessional education events. This study assessed and compared knowledge of contemporary pain neuroscience and attitudes and beliefs toward individuals experiencing pain among university students.
Design: Cross-sectional observational study
Methods: 284 undergraduate and graduate, healthcare and non-healthcare students completed the revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire and the Health Care Providers’ Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale.
Results: Findings revealed a widespread lack of contemporary pain neuroscience knowledge and misinformed attitudes and beliefs about individuals in pain across most groups. Physical Therapy students demonstrated significantly greater contemporary pain neuroscience knowledge and more informed attitudes and beliefs compared to all non-physical therapy healthcare and non-healthcare students. Surprisingly, non-healthcare students displayed comparable contemporary pain neuroscience to healthcare undergraduate and non-physical therapy graduate students, further highlighting gaps in healthcare curricula. Attitudes and beliefs toward individuals in pain were deficient among non-physical therapy healthcare majors and non-healthcare students alike.
Conclusions: These results underscore the need for comprehensive, contemporary pain neuroscience education across healthcare disciplines.

研究背景与目的：当前医疗教育项目往往未能充分涵盖当代疼痛神经科学相关内容，致使未来的医疗从业者难以应对慢性疼痛这一普遍存在且兼具生物-心理-社会属性的难题。探索大学生对当代疼痛神经科学的认知水平以及对疼痛患者的态度，或可帮助教育者明确学生在疼痛相关跨专业教育活动中的恰当定位。本研究评估并比较了不同群体大学生对当代疼痛神经科学的知识掌握情况，以及他们对疼痛患者的态度与认知。
研究设计：横断面观察性研究
研究方法：共计284名本科及研究生阶段的医疗专业与非医疗专业学生参与了本研究，完成了修订版疼痛神经生理学问卷（revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire）与医疗从业者疼痛与损伤关联量表（Health Care Providers’ Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale）的作答。
研究结果：结果显示，绝大多数受试群体普遍缺乏当代疼痛神经科学相关知识，且对疼痛患者存在认知偏差与态度误区。与其他非物理治疗类医疗专业学生及非医疗专业学生相比，物理治疗专业学生的当代疼痛神经科学知识掌握程度显著更高，对疼痛患者的态度与认知也更为客观准确。值得注意的是，非医疗专业学生的当代疼痛神经科学知识掌握水平与医疗专业本科生及非物理治疗类医疗专业研究生不相上下，这进一步凸显了当前医疗课程体系中存在的知识缺口。非物理治疗类医疗专业学生与非医疗专业学生群体，均普遍存在对疼痛患者的态度与认知偏差问题。
研究结论：本研究结果表明，各医疗学科亟需开展全面且贴合当代前沿的疼痛神经科学教育。