How pain neuroscience education is performed in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain: a scoping review protocol

BackgroundPain Neuroscience Education (PNE) is an effective widely used strategy in the field of chronic pain management. The objective of this scoping review is to summarize the literature to identify how PNE is performed in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. MethodsThis scoping review will be performed in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. Studies will be included if they meet the following population, concept, and context criteria: any patient with chronic musculoskeletal pain aged over 18 years old, any PNE delivery method, any context. No study design, publication type, and data restrictions will be applied. MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, Scopus, PsycInfo and PEDro databases will be searched up to March 2021. Additional records will be identified through searching in grey literature and reference lists of all relevant and included studies. Two reviewers will independently screen all title, abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. A data collection form will be developed by the research team to extract the characteristics of the studies included. A tabular and accompanying narrative summary of the information will be provided. ConclusionsThis will be the first scoping review to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic. The results will add meaningful information for future research and clinical practice. Furthermore, any knowledge gaps on the topic will be identified. The results of this research will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and will be presented at relevant (inter)national scientific events.