Psychological flexibility intervention for young people with chronic pain and their parents

INTERVENTION: Study 1 uses a cross‐sectional survey to unexplored facets of psychological flexibility (PF), design features, and practical methods for enhancing PF for parents and young people with pain conditions. An online questionnaire will be disseminated through the internet to recruit 50 Malaysian parents of young people with pain conditions via purposeful sampling. The questionnaire will give brief descriptions of treatment focused on PF and ACT for parents of young people with pain conditions in different modes (such as face to face or online, group or individuals, continuous or intermittent, short or long duration), and parents will state their preference through a ratings scale. Participants will also be allowed to give qualitative responses with optional open‐ended questions. The questionnaire will also include items to assess parent's belief on the effectiveness of the proposed program, and motivations and barriers to attending such a program. Demographic predictors of parents' interest to participate in the program will also be assessed (including age group of young people with pain conditions, types of pain conditions, severity of pain conditions, and disability). Study 2 is a study with pre‐test post‐test control group design to test the feasibility and effectiveness of the prototype treatment for parents and young people with pain conditions. Parents and young people (11‐18 years old) with pain conditions will be recruited from local hospitals via purposeful sampling. A feasibility study with pre‐test post‐test control group design will be conducted. Based on Lancaster, Dodd & Williamson’s recommendation of an overall sample size of 30 for a feasibility study, 30 parents will be randomly assigned t CONDITION: Chronic pain in young people ; Not Applicable ; Chronic pain PRIMARY OUTCOME: ; 1. Parental psychological flexibility measured by the Parent Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire (PPFQ) and Adult Responses to Children’s Symptoms scale (ARCS) at 1 and 14 days; 2. Parental psychological stress and well‐being measured by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress inventory (DASS) at 1 and 14 days; 3. Children's psychological well‐being and functioning measured by the Functional Disability Inventory (FDI), school attendance, and the Child Behavior Checklist) at 1 and 14 days; 4. Pain measured by visual analogy scale (VAS) and the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire adolescent version (CPAQ‐A) at 1 and 14 days; SECONDARY OUTCOME: ; 1. Preferred treatment mode (including face to face or online, group or individuals, continuous or intermittent, short or long duration) measured using a rating scale and qualitative responses with optional open‐ended questions at 24 h; 2. Parent's belief on the effectiveness of the proposed program, and motivations and barriers to attending the program measured by questionnaire at 24 h; 3. Demographic predictors of parents' interest to participate in the program (including the age group of young people with pain conditions, types of pain conditions, the severity of pain conditions, and disability) measured by questionnaire at 24 h; INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Malaysian citizen 2. Young people aged 11 to 18 years with pain conditions, and their parents 3. Pain of =3 months duration 4. Able to read and write