Pain-at-Work Toolkit for Employees With Chronic Pain (Definitive Trial)

Background Chronic pain affects 28 million adults in the UK, significantly impacting their ability to be productive at work, feel fulfilled at work and/or remain in the active workforce. However, most people living with chronic pain cannot access work-related support from healthcare services, and the majority of employers do not routinely provide it. The Pain-at-Work Toolkit is a web-based resource that could help to reduce unfair differences in working lives for people with chronic pain, and positively impact their health and wellbeing, enhancing their productivity in the wider community. Co-created with people who live with pain, healthcare professionals and employers, this toolkit provides education and self-management advice to help people with chronic pain stay in, and thrive, at work.

The investigators tested the Pain-at-Work Toolkit in a preliminary trial in England ('feasibility trial' NCT05838677) . This showed that the Pain-at-Work Toolkit can be a very helpful support tool in the workplace for those living with chronic pain. The investigators recruited 18 organisations and 380 employees (50% and 217% more than expected, respectively), demonstrating that this toolkit meets a gap in employer provisions. Employees who received access to the toolkit valued its content and engaged with it without technical issues. Workers told investigators that their ability to work had improved after 6 months but these results need to be confirmed in a larger trial. Employers told investigators that they valued being able to offer it to their staff. The investigators are now updating the toolkit content to ensure it is relevant to employees across the UK.

The next step is to carry out a larger UK-wide study ('definitive trial'). The aim is to find out whether The Pain-at-Work Toolkit helps people to feel more able and confident at work, take fewer sick days, and be productive at work, and whether it provides good value for money.

The investigators will recruit at least 30 different organisations from across UK. These organisations will be randomly placed into one of two groups: one will access and use the Pain-at-Work Toolkit (the intervention group), and the other will continue as usual (the control group), to compare results fairly. A Pain-at-Work Manager Toolkit will be made available to line managers of organisations in the intervention group.

Over 600 employees will be recruited from these organisations. They will all be invited to complete online questionnaires at three time points: at recruitment, 3 months, and 6 months. The investigators will ask about their health and wellbeing, and factors relating to work, such as work ability, self-efficacy (confidence), sickness absence, work productivity, and intentions to leave.