Currently submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Oct 20, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Oct 21, 2026 - Dec 16, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
How Do Healthcare Students Conceptualise musculoskeletal Pain? A Scoping Review Protocol of Pain Beliefs and Educational Influences
ABSTRACT
Background:
Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is a leading cause of disability worldwide, and contemporary management is increasingly guided by biopsychosocial models and pain science-informed recommendations. However, a gap remains between current evidence-based guidance and clinical practice, with healthcare professionals often demonstrating beliefs and approaches that are inconsistent with contemporary understandings of pain. As clinicians' conceptualisations of pain influence assessment, communication, and management decisions, it is important to understand how these beliefs develop during professional training. Undergraduate healthcare education represents a critical stage in this process, yet the extent and nature of pain conceptualisations among healthcare students remain unclear.
Objective:
This scoping review aims to map the evidence relating to pain conceptualisation among undergraduate healthcare students in the context of MSK pain
Methods:
This scoping review will follow Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and be reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Searches will be conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus and relevant grey literature sources. Studies involving undergraduate healthcare students that explore beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, explanatory models or conceptualisations of MSK pain will be eligible for inclusion. Two reviewers will independently screen studies and extract data using a standardised charting form. Findings will be summarised descriptively and presented in tabular and narrative formats.
Results:
Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and conference presentation.
Conclusions:
The review will identify how MSK pain is conceptualised among undergraduate healthcare students and highlight gaps to inform future research and curriculum development. Clinical Trial: This protocol was prospectively registered on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/nfprs/overview).
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