ePainQ - Feasibility Study

This is a feasibility study of a web-based pain self-management system aimed at providing support for acute postoperative pain and enhancing patient care. The ePainQ symptom questionnaire provides patients with immediate graded advice dependent on severity of issues reported. Information about self-managing these issues are provided via instructions in ePainQ with hyperlinks to more detailed advice on the ePainQ website. Patients log on daily postoperatively to complete the symptom questionnaire. Women with invasive/non-invasive breast carcinoma due to be treated by surgery with curative intent will be approached to take part in this study. We will invite consecutive eligible patients, consenting as many willing patients as possible within a fixed 12 month recruitment period. There are 2 arms to the study: intervention -using ePainQ intervention \& standard care and a cohort (control) arm, which will be standard care only. Primary aim: To test the feasibility of a web-based pain self-management system for breast cancer patients undergoing surgery Secondary aims: 1. a) Examine preliminary effectiveness of the system (impact on outcome measures, pain etc.) b) Explore the potential associations between breast density, post-surgical scarring and pain and outcomes 2. To explore staff use and perceived usefulness of ePainQ in clinical consultations.