QUICK focus group study recruitment now underway!

We are looking for people to take part in focus groups to share their experiences of working with chronic pain.

Chronic pain conditions can affect the kind of work people do and how they engage in it, from impacting how much work one can do on a day-to-day basis, to long-term career choices. It is estimated that between one-third and one-half of the UK population are affected by chronic pain. However, there is currently no standard questionnaire that can fully explore and measure the many different impacts of chronic pain on people’s ability to work.

The QUICK study aims to develop a new questionnaire that can be used to assess the many different ways in which chronic pain affects work ability, including taking into account modern ways of working (such as holding several part-time jobs, having "zero hours" contracts or combining employment with self-employment).

For the current phase of the study we will soon be conducting a series of focus groups with people with chronic pain who are in paid work (or who wish to be in paid work) in order to understand key impacts of chronic pain that are important to include in  the new questionnaire. We are also conducting several focus groups with other key stakeholders to understand the impact of chronic pain on work from the perspective of healthcare professionals, employers, people working in the policy setting, and researchers who have a professional interest in this area.

QUICK Research Fellow Dr Martin Stevens said:

“It's important for us to understand the impacts of chronic pain in the workplace. We want to listen to, and incorporate a wide variety of viewpoints in the QUICK study and as such would love to hear from people with relevant experiences to share.”

You can find out more about the QUICK study here.