The true experts: codeveloping a preventive psychological intervention for postsurgical pain with patients and...

Approximately 20% of youth undergoing major surgery develop chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP). However, preventive interventions for CPSP have yielded mixed results, partly due to the limited involvement of patients and caregivers in the intervention development process. Single-session interventions (SSI) are well-suited in this context, as they are time- and cost-efficient.

This study investigates the perioperative needs of patients and caregivers, and utilizes these insights to co-develop a preventive psychological SSI for post-surgical pain.

Two rounds of focus groups were conducted with patients and caregivers to (1) gather information on the perioperative experience of patients and caregivers to develop the content of a preventive SSI, and (2) gather feedback on the draft of the intervention. Participants' experiences were analyzed applying structural content analysis. Based on these results, the content of a digital intervention was developed, which was then presented to participants for evaluation, and feedback was analyzed using participatory observation.

Five adolescent patients and four mothers took part in the focus groups. In total, 5 superordinate categories were identified: Consequences of context (i.e., contextual components), looking after yourself (i.e., self-care related components), limitations of healthcare system (i.e., healthcare system-based components), requests for medical staff (i.e., specific expectations directed toward providers) and child as primary focus (i.e., child-focused components). The intervention draft was well accepted by participants, and minor suggestions for improvement were implemented.

Our study identifies core topics of importance for patients undergoing major surgery and their caregivers, and informs the development of a preventive psychological intervention.