LAUSR

Chronic pain impacts individuals’ work. Existing questionnaires have focussed on assessing consequences for productivity and we have previously noted a discrepancy with the wide range of impacts described in qualitative literature. Given that there have been major changes in how people work, there is a need to develop an instrument to quantify a broader range of impacts of chronic pain on work. We identified impacts on work by consulting people with chronic pain and a range of stakeholders. Deliberative focus groups identified key domains important to people which informed the development of the initial instrument. Content and wording of items were then refined through a multi-stage Delphi process with relevant stakeholders. Items were taken forward if they met pre-defined scoring criteria. We are currently validating the instrument within general population, clinical, and occupational samples. Focus groups with 50 participants identified key impacts including financial consequences, the specific consequences of the fluctuating nature of pain, and the impact on workplace relationships. Ten domains, including, cognitive impacts, hidden disability and degree of support for job modifications, informed the development of a draft set of items, which were then refined as a result of a Delphi process: 14 items have been included for final testing and validation. We have developed a new instrument, with a wide range of stakeholders, which takes account of modern ways of working, to quantify the impact of chronic pain on work more comprehensively. The QUICK questionnaire is scheduled to be available in 2024.