Project description
Personalised support package to improve chronic pain management
The economic toll of chronic pain in Europe reaches EUR 440 billion a year, affecting disadvantaged groups most severely. Current treatments focus on biological and psychological factors, but often overlook social elements, thereby limiting their effectiveness. The ERC-funded PainSupportLink project aims to improve chronic pain management. Specifically, it will create a personalised support package tailored to individual social, biological, and psychological factors. It will explore community support and identify how social disadvantage affects pain. The project will also evaluate the package’s effectiveness on pain, disability, and quality of life through a clinical trial, investigating whether biological, psychological, and social mechanisms mediate its effects. The overall goal is to improve patient outcomes.
Objective
This project will advance chronic pain treatment by developing a personalised support package tailored to patients' uniqu. e social, biological, and psychological drivers of pain. Chronic pain affects billions and costs Europe €440 billion annually. Socially disadvantaged individuals, especially those of low socioeconomic status, are disproportionately affected, but current treatments primarily target biological and psychological factors, overlooking social elements. This gap may explain the modest and short-lived effects of current treatments, particularly in vulnerable groups. I hypothesise that adding personalised community support—an approach not yet explored for pain—will enhance outcomes and propose four work packages: WP1 Identify causal pathways through which biological, psychological, and social factors mediate the effects of social disadvantage on pain to identify support targets, using latent class mediation analysis of longitudinal cohort data. WP2 Build a personalised support package tailored to individuals' needs and targets identified in WP1, using a scoping review, qualitative study, and feasibility trial. WP3 Evaluate the support package's effects on pain, disability and quality of life through a randomised clinical trial. WP4 Investigate whether selected biological (inflammation, nervous system sensitisation, physical activity), psychological (mental health, self-efficacy), and social (support, isolation) mechanisms mediate the support package’s effect on clinical outcomes using a causal mediation analysis. Multiomics blood profiling, computerised cuff pressure algometry, activity accelerometers, and questionnaires will be employed. This project will advance understanding of how bio-psycho-social mechanisms link social disadvantage to pain and transform pain outcomes through a personalised, socially sensitive, equity-driven framework that addresses the full range of social, biological, and psychological factors, surpassing current treatments.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
- Limerick
Ireland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.