What this study is about
Some young people live with pain in their muscles, joints or bones – backs, knees, hips, limbs – that lasts for months or years. Most of the time there is no quick fix. Instead, young people are expected to “self-manage”: to find ways of living around and with the pain, at school, at home, with friends, on the days it’s bad and the days it’s better.
Research so far has mostly treated self-management as a set of skills to be taught. When you listen to young people themselves, it looks bigger than that: it is tied up with who they are, who believes them, and how the people around them respond. This study listens properly.
What we’re doing
I will be interviewing young people aged 13–19 living with chronic musculoskeletal pain, and parents and carers, about how self-management is really learned and lived – especially during the years when young people move from being looked after through their pain to being expected to handle it more independently. Interviews are online, one to one, and last about an hour. The study uses constructivist grounded theory, a qualitative approach that builds understanding from people’s own accounts. Recruitment is UK-wide.
Why it matters
Young people in pain are often disbelieved – told they look fine, that it’s growing pains, stress, or too much time on their phones. Support that is designed for them without being designed with them often misses. This research aims to help clinicians, families and services understand self-management as young people actually experience it, so that support can be built with them rather than handed to them.
Who is behind it
I’m Catherine Cairns Leyman, a PhD researcher at the Centre for Health and Community Research, University of Stirling, supervised by Professor Emma France and Dr Line Caes. The research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science. Before the PhD I worked as a social prescribing link worker; this study grew out of that work.
Young people with lived experience have already shaped the study through patient and public involvement sessions with Your Rheum and the JIA Champions, and a young people’s advisory group is now being formed to shape how the study communicates, recruits and shares its findings. If you are 13–19 and live with chronic musculoskeletal pain, or you are a parent or carer of someone who does, and you’d like to be part of that group, the invitation is here: Advisory group invitation (PDF) – or simply get in touch using the contact details below.
Funded by
Ethics and approvals
- The study was approved by the University of Stirling’s NHS, Invasive or Clinical Research (NICR) ethics committee on 23 June 2026.
- The study was submitted for NHS research ethics review (IRAS 354605) in September 2026 and was reviewed by an NHS Research Ethics Committee on 8 October 2026. The committee gave a provisional opinion on 15 October 2026 and asked for some clarifications, which are now being answered. NHS approval is needed before young people can be invited through NHS clinics. Approval details will be published here when they are confirmed.
- The systematic review that underpins the study is registered on PROSPERO (CRD420251006665).
If you are checking whether this study is real and properly governed, this is where you will see exactly where things currently stand.
Taking part
Recruitment through charities and community groups is now open; recruitment through NHS clinics will follow once NHS approval is confirmed. If you’re interested, or would like to know more, email Catherine at cac18@stir.ac.uk. I’ll get back to you for a short, informal chat about the study and whether it’s a good fit, and if it is, I’ll send you the full information to read in your own time. Taking part will always be a free choice, and deciding not to will never affect anyone’s care.
Data and privacy
Interviews are confidential within the limits of keeping people safe: if something suggested a young person was at serious risk of harm, I would need to involve people whose job it is to help, and participants are told this clearly before anything begins. Data are handled under the University of Stirling’s data protection procedures and stored on University systems; anonymised findings will be shared in academic publications and in formats young people help choose.
For full details of how the University handles research participants’ personal data, see the University of Stirling Privacy Notice for Research Participants.
Contact
Catherine Cairns Leyman — cac18@stir.ac.uk
Centre for Health and Community Research, University of Stirling
Messages are read on weekdays during working hours. I’m a researcher, not a clinician, so I can’t offer advice about anyone’s pain or care. If you need someone now: Childline 0800 1111 (under-19s), your GP, or NHS 111.
If you have any concerns about the conduct of the research, please speak to me first. If you are still unhappy, or wish to make a formal complaint, you can contact the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport at the University of Stirling, Professor Jayne Donaldson.
This page was last updated on 21 October 2026. It will change and be updated as the study progresses.