Attentional Bias Modification Training for People With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a complex medical condition associated with significant distress, disability, and reduction in quality of life. Research has shown that patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain demonstrate attentional biases towards pain-related information. The purpose of this study is to determine whether internet-delivered attentional bias modification, which aims to implicitly train attention away from pain-related information, has beneficial effects upon pain and pain-related distress in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Participants will be randomised to either an attentional training condition, or to a no-training placebo condition. The primary outcome measures are pain intensity and pain interference, and secondary outcome measures include anxiety, depression, pain-related fear and sleep problems. Data will be analysed and reported separately for participants aged 16 - 24 and 25 - 60. It is hypothesized that participants receiving internet-delivered attentional bias modification will show significantly greater reductions in pain and pain-related distress compared to participants receiving placebo training.