Evaluating peer-led groups after pain management programmes

What we did

We interviewed seven clinical staff who run PMPs and 38 PMP participants about their experiences. Sixteen participants had attended one of 11 follow-on peer support groups, and 12 hadn’t. The other 10 were patient tutor volunteers who have experienced pain and helped run PMPs and supported the formation of follow-on groups.

These interviews helped us understand the impacts of the groups, how they were organised and why some people chose not to attend them.

How we involved people

Twelve people who experience pain and who have taken part in PMPs and follow-on peer support groups helped advise us at different stages of the project, including project design, recruitment of patients to be interviewed, feeding back on initial findings, and helping share our results though leaflets for patients and PMP clinicians and a film.

What we found and what this means

People described how continuing the social connections developed during the PMP course helped them to consolidate the self-management techniques they had learned and incorporate them into their lives. Groups enabled members to support each other. Having a shared understanding of the effects of living with pain helped them gain more control over their lives.

“I think it’s helped a lot because I don’t feel on my own anymore”

“It has been my lifeline”

Discussing different ways of dealing with pain helped people try out new techniques and learn more about how to cope with pain in everyday life.

People who chose not to get involved in follow-on peer support groups gave a variety of reasons including loss of contact, illness, work or family commitments, and difficulties in arranging times.

The impact of peer support groups

Peer support groups can be a low-cost and effective social intervention, encouraging people to build self-management techniques into their lives and preventing relapse.

To support the development of these groups elsewhere, our research team and people from existing peer support groups have worked together to design materials for clinicians who facilitate pain management courses and the people who take part in them.

These materials include:

• a leaflet for clinicians who run PMPs about how to introduce follow-on groups (PDF)
• a leaflet for patients for when follow-on groups are being introduced by clinicians (PDF)
• a short film sharing the experiences of people who have attended these groups

We can send editable Word versions of these leaflets to clinicians wishing to support the development of peer support groups after PMPs. Please email Michelle Farr on m.farr@bristol.ac.uk to receive these. We will also send you a questionnaire to help you understand whether these peer support groups might benefit your patients.

Watch the video