The students will be asked to complete two questionnaires relating to their understanding of pain. One at the start of the conference and one at the end . The first questionnaire will gather demographic information (age, gender, ethnicity and any history of persistent pain). The following questions will be a series of multiple-choice questions relating to beliefs about persistent pain. The second questionnaire to be completed at the end of the day will be identical to the first, minus the demographic questions. Each questionnaire should take 5-10 minutes to complete. So total involvement in this study will be less than 20 minutes. The questionnaires will be provided in an unmarked brown envelope. The envelope will contain two questionnaires one marked before and one marked after. Participants will be asked to complete the before questionnaire at the start of the day and then put it back in their envelope. At the end of the day, they will be asked to complete the after questionnaire. Participants will keep the envelope with them during the day and at no point will their name or any other identifiable information go on the form. At the end of the day, they will be asked to leave the anonymous envelope in a designated area in the room.
The beliefs held by students lead to behaviours in response to their pain which can be both helpful or a hindrance to how they manage their pain. The one-day education event aims to educate the cohort on the contemporary scientific understanding of persistent pain. It is hoped this event will result in an improvement in the alignment of beliefs and behaviours to contemporary understanding of persistent pain.~The principal aim is to evaluate the pre-post beliefs about pain following a one-day pain education event.