Volunteer for a research study

Study title:

The effect of simulating functional tasks during an immersive virtual reality environment on pain and fear of movement in people with chronic non-specific low back pain

Aims:

• The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of pain education and virtual reality gameplay on pain levels and fear of movement in individuals with persistent low back pain.
• The study is also exploring the impacts of these interventions on movement and physical activity levels.
• While pain education is a well-established treatment intervention, virtual reality gameplay is an emerging treatment and requires more investigation.
• If virtual reality gameplay combined with pain education is shown to be an effective treatment for pain and fear of movement in individuals with persistent low back pain, this could provide opportunities for alternative treatment approaches that incorporate virtual reality gameplay. This could take place in individual’s homes without the need for regular face to face contact with a physiotherapist.

Types of volunteers needed:

• Adults (18-65 years of age)
• Have persistent low back pain (six months or more)
• Able to attend the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Services (STARS) Hospital for three weekly sessions

What is involved?

• If you decide to participate in the study, participation will include attending three weekly sessions at STARS. The first two sessions take approximately 60-90 minutes, and the final session takes approximately 30 minutes.
• Parking vouchers are available to cover parking costs at STARS, or alternatively you can elect to be reimbursed for public transport costs.
• Participation involves completing some questionnaires relating to pain intensity, your beliefs around pain and movement, and a measure of the level of your disability resulting from your back pain.
• At each testing session, markers will be placed on your trunk to enable motion capture as you perform some standard movements (e.g. bending forwards, backwards, sideways, lifting and lowering a 4kg box).
• The first session will also include a 1:1 pain education intervention, while the second session will include virtual reality gameplay where you will play three separate games (basketball hoops, ice curling, and ten-pin bowling).

What’s in it for me?

• There will be no direct benefit to you from participating in this research. However, your participation will help to determine if virtual reality combined with pain education has a positive impact on pain, fear of movement, physical activity levels, and movement of the lower back, in individuals with persistent low back pain.
• A $40 gift card will be provided to participants who complete all three sessions, to thank you for your time.

How can I volunteer or find out more?

People interested in participating or learning more about the study including location details can:

• Contact Dr Peter Window, Project Investigator, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital on email peter.window@health.qld.gov.au; or
• Read the Study information sheet provided here (PDF, 191.6 KB)

Study title:

Aim:

There is an urgent need to develop and evaluate new approaches that reduce driving anxiety and avoidance. In this study, we will invite patients to share their journey and experiences of driving anxiety and avoidance. It provides an opportunity for patients and clinicians to work together to develop the best possible solutions to improve care. It is expected that the results of this research will be used to develop a VR prototype which can be evaluated in future studies to assist individuals to improve their health and reduce driving anxiety.

Types of volunteers needed:

To be eligible to participate in this study, you must be 18 years or older and must have chronic pain (experienced for more than 3 months) which has been diagnosed by a medical professional and a result of a motor vehicle crash. You must also have driving anxiety or avoidance or have experienced this in the past.

What is involved?

If eligible, you will complete a short 10-minute online survey which includes questions about demographics, your condition, and associated clinical characteristics (e.g., mood). You will then be invited to complete one or more (up to four) focus groups or individual sessions to explore your experience of pain, driving anxiety and provide input into the intervention components.

What’s in it for me?

You may or may not personally benefit from participating in this study. However, we hope that you will find your participation and contribution to the study valuable. The findings of the study will help us develop more effective approaches to reducing driving anxiety. A summary of the findings of this study will be prepared once the information collected has been completed. You can request to receive a copy of the findings of the study by contacting Dr Elphinston via email (rachelel@uq.edu.au).

You will receive a $50 gift card for participating in each session. A $50 gift card will be sent to you by mail/email after completion of each session.

How can I volunteer or find out more?

Contact Dr Elphinston via email rachelel@uq.edu.au

Project title

What is this research about?

Most treatment guidelines are developed based on research that focuses on how groups of patients respond to a treatment on average (i.e., findings from a randomised  controlled trial). However, response to treatment may vary substantially from one patient to another. Due to a focus on the average response, studies using traditional research designs may not identify patients who do not respond or who are harmed by a particular treatment. N-of-1 trials and single-case designs have emerged as a rigorous scientific method that can be used to identify individual patient response to treatments. This study aims to explore stakeholder perspectives about the barriers and facilitators for conducting N-of-1 trials and single-case studies in clinical practice.

What will you do?

You will complete an interview in person or via telephone or video call (e.g., Zoom or Teams). Prior to the interview, you will sign a participant consent form, complete a brief online questionnaire collecting information about you, and watch a video describing what N-of-1 trials and single-case designs are. This will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. You will then take part in an interview. During the interview the researcher will ask you a series of questions about your views on N-of-1 trials and/or single-case designs. The interview will be audio-recorded. The interview will take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete. After the interview audio-recording has been transcribed, we will offer you the opportunity to review your interview transcript for data accuracy.

Who can participate?

We are looking for Australian Physiotherapists of any age with at least one year's experience in clinical practice in the musculoskeletal field.

How do I participate?

The interviews will be conducted via telephone or video call at a time convenient to you.

To find out more information, please contact Associate Professor Jane Nikles by email: catherine.nikles@uq.edu.au or mobile phone 0408 599 033.

What is the purpose of this research?

Some people recover from a whiplash or neck strain injury, while for other people neck pain can become a long-term problem. Recent research findings suggest that in some people who develop long-term whiplash neck pain, there are changes in the structure and function of small sensory nerve fibres responsible for transmitting information about temperature and pain. This is a phenomenon also noted in other pain conditions such as fibromyalgia. This may be related to the biological mechanisms underlying long-term pain in this condition, so we need to learn more about this to help improve diagnosis and treatment.

The aims of this study are: i) to determine when after a whiplash injury these nerve findings can be observed, and ii) to better understand their clinical significance and possible causes.

Who can participate

We are looking for male and female participants aged 18-70 years with neck pain following a whiplash or strain injury, such as from a car crash, within 3 weeks of injury.

What does participation in this research involve?

Participation in this research involves attending the Tess Cramond Pain & Research Centre, RBWH (STARS Building, 296 Herston Road, Herston) for data collection (60-90 minute appointment).

During the appointment we will ask you to complete some questionnaires regarding neck pain (if applicable), general health and psychological symptoms, undertake skin biopsies at the finger and ankle, and collect blood from a vein in your arm.

To reimburse for time and travel expenses, participants will be provided a $50 gift voucher for each appointment attended.

How do I participate?

REGISTER HERE

If you would like further information.

To find out more information, please contact Dr Scott Farrell and the research team on (07) 3346 4791, scott.farrell@uq.edu.au  or Dr Nayomi Ranathunga on email n.ranathunga@uq.net.au