TY - JOUR
T1 - Feasibility and Acceptability of a Self-Management Education Program for Adolescents with Headaches
T2 - A Pilot Study
AU - Whitley, Nicole Margaret
AU - Pohl, Daniela
AU - Knopp-Sihota, Jennifer Ann
AU - Johnson, Steven Thomas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2026
Y1 - 2026
N2 - Headache disorders are one of the most frequent pediatric health complaints and are associated with impairments in daily functioning and increased rates of anxiety and depression. In adults with headache disorders, self-management education has successfully improved headache self-efficacy; however, no studies have evaluated this in a pediatric population. Hence, a pre-post comparison pilot study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a 1-time, 90-minute, in-person, group workshop on headache self-management. Participant-reported headache self-efficacy and chronic illness self-efficacy were assessed before the intervention to evaluate changes in self-efficacy 2 weeks after the intervention. Thirty participants completed the study [mean (SD) = 14.7 (1.5) years; 73% female]. Of those who responded to the acceptability survey (n = 13), all reported being very satisfied. Headache self-efficacy increased (P = .002), whereas chronic illness self-efficacy was unchanged (P = .445). The results from this pilot study will inform a larger-scale trial.
AB - Headache disorders are one of the most frequent pediatric health complaints and are associated with impairments in daily functioning and increased rates of anxiety and depression. In adults with headache disorders, self-management education has successfully improved headache self-efficacy; however, no studies have evaluated this in a pediatric population. Hence, a pre-post comparison pilot study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a 1-time, 90-minute, in-person, group workshop on headache self-management. Participant-reported headache self-efficacy and chronic illness self-efficacy were assessed before the intervention to evaluate changes in self-efficacy 2 weeks after the intervention. Thirty participants completed the study [mean (SD) = 14.7 (1.5) years; 73% female]. Of those who responded to the acceptability survey (n = 13), all reported being very satisfied. Headache self-efficacy increased (P = .002), whereas chronic illness self-efficacy was unchanged (P = .445). The results from this pilot study will inform a larger-scale trial.
KW - behaviour
KW - children
KW - chronic illness
KW - education
KW - headache
KW - migraine
KW - pediatric
KW - self-efficacy
KW - self-management
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031649544
U2 - 10.1177/08830738261422878
DO - 10.1177/08830738261422878
M3 - Journal Article
AN - SCOPUS:105031649544
SN - 0883-0738
JO - Journal of Child Neurology
JF - Journal of Child Neurology
ER -