Psychologically informed practice for professionals treating pain

This course aims to introduce into practice evidence-based techniques and skills that can improve quality of life for people with pain. It is relevant to a wide range of practitioners who encounter people with pain including chiropractors, nurses, osteopaths and physiotherapists.

Recent clinical guidance and research has emphasised the need for practitioners to apply a biopsychosocial model of care. Whilst many practitioners are comfortable with the bio aspect of the model, integrating psychological and related communication skills into practice is more challenging. This course will provide introductory skills and an awareness of potential psychological tools to enable practitioners to be more confident in delivering an integrated biopsychosocial model of care to their patients.

The course comprises a series of mini-lectures introducing each topic, describing the evidence to support the role of psychological factors in pain and the need for their incorporation into practice. There will be opportunities to experiment with using new skills in experiential sessions.

Practical sessions will be balanced with theory and reviews of relevant evidence.

The course is delivered by Tamar Pincus (PhD. M.Phil., MSc), a professor in health psychology, and a renowned researcher and trainer in psychological skills.

Professor Tamar Pincus holds a PhD in psychology (University College London), as well as Masters degrees in experimental research methods in psychology (UCL), and epidemiology (Cambridge University). She is a registered practicing practitioner with the Health Professional Council (HCPC). Her research has embraced a variety of methodologies, including experimental, epidemiological and qualitative. The research has included investigation of attention and recall in pain patients; the psychological predictors for poor outcome in low back pain, and the study of clinicians’ beliefs and attitudes in low back pain, effective reassurance in consultations, depression in the context of pain and more.

Tamar’s research has included the investigation of interventions through randomised controlled trials, and throughout she has collaborated closely with researchers from many disciplines, including doctors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and clinical psychologists, from a multitude of institutions, in the UK and internationally. She also convened the international consensus group to establish what factors and measures should be included in prospective cohorts investigation the transition from early to persistent back pain. Most recently her research has focused on delivering effective reassurance to patients in primary care, and studying the efficacy of antidepressants in chronic pain. Her practical work has focused on training practitioners in effective communication skills and fostering awareness of patients’ psychological needs and concerns, and introduces the frameworks of CBT and ACT.