Whiplash is the most common and expensive injury from road traffic accidents, and getting the right treatment early is important. But current treatments often miss the emotional impact of trauma and aren’t always affordable or easy to access. Patients are often left to navigate recovery by themselves.
Text message-based programs have shown promise for other types of pain, but they haven’t been tested for people injured in car accidents. That’s why our team co-designed RISE, a new and easy-to-access support program delivered by text message.
RISE supports patients in the first 3 months after a road traffic injury. The intervention provides text messages to improve:
- Recovery
- Information
- Support, and
- Empowerment.
The primary aim of the RISE project is a pilot test is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of RISE.
This project has received ethics approval through the University of Queensland (Project ID: 2023/HE002164).
Workshop 1:
Help co-design a text message intervention for whiplash recovery after a road traffic injury
We invite individuals who have recently experienced whiplash from a road traffic injury (approximately within the last 3 months) to participate in a workshop to help co-design an innovative text message intervention. This workshop is part of our RISE project, which aims to pilot test the text message intervention to improve recovery for Queenslanders in the first 6-12 weeks after a road traffic injury. This project has received ethics approval through the University of Queensland (Project ID: 2023/HE002164).
About this workshop
Part of this project involves working with people who have recent lived experience of whiplash from a road traffic incident (in the past 3 months) to help co-design the text message intervention. In the workshop, you will take part in group discussions and activities where you can share your ideas and feedback. This feedback will guide us in improving the intervention before it is ready for the pilot study.
Responsibilities:
In the workshop, you will take part in group discussions and activities where you can share your ideas and feedback. This feedback will guide us in improving the intervention before it is ready for the pilot study.
Time commitment:
The workshop goes for 2 hours and will be run online.
Reimbursement:
To thank you for your time, all participants will be reimbursed $50/hour for the workshop.
Eligibility:
To be eligible to participate, you must be:
- 18 years or older
- a resident of Queensland, and
- have recent lived experience of whiplash after a motor vehicle incident (within the past 3 months).
Register your interest
To register your interest or if you have any questions, please email Jessica Formosa via j.formosa@uq.edu.au.
Project lead
Dr Rachel Elphinston is a clinical psychologist and senior research fellow at the RECOVER Injury Research Centre at The University of Queensland. Her research interests focus on the psychological risk factors for pain and disability following injury, as well as the effectiveness of interventions to treat comorbid prescription medication use and misuse.
Dr Elphinston has a current appointment with Addiction and Mental Health Services in Metro South Health and has experience working in multidisciplinary clinical and research teams to translate research into practice and design and implement new models of care.
Project team
- Dr Rachel Elphinston, UQ RECOVER Injury Research Centre
- Prof. Michele Sterling, UQ RECOVER Injury Research Centre
- Dr Nigel Armfield, UQ RECOVER Injury Research Centre
- A/Prof Claire Ashton-James, USYD
- Dr Lisa Buckley, USC
- Dr Chris Papic, UQ RECOVER Injury Research Centre
- Dr Katherine Brain, UQ, Chronic Pain Australia (consumer representative)
- A/Prof Van Der Vegt, UQ
Contact us
For more information, email Dr Rachel Elphinstone
rachelel@uq.edu.au