Over the years BackCare's Helpline volunteers have become real experts in their field. Read how they have mastered this and learn some tricks of the trade from them in this section.
There is an incredibly large amount of information available that relates to back pain. A quick search shows more than 21 million website hits on ‘back pain’ and more than 200 different types of treatment. So how do BackCare’s Helpline volunteers make sense of this information?
Helpline resources
All Helpline volunteers have access to a range of different information resources which have been developed specifically for the BackCare Helpline. Some of this is available to them on dedicated online databases while other information is in good old paper format. Furthermore, all our volunteers have gathered an enormous amount of information themselves, which they either keep on file themselves or is safely stored in their brains!
Most of the information resources used by the Helpline volunteers are developed and updated by staff at BackCare’s national office. BackCare acts as a hub between patients, (healthcare) professionals, employers, policy makers, researchers and all others with an interest in back pain. This ensures that BackCare is well informed and at the forefront of many new developments in the area of back pain.
Helpline volunteers
The BackCare Helpline is operated by volunteers who all have personal experience of back pain. They know what it is like to have to cope with back pain on a day-to-day basis.
The volunteers go through a thorough selection process and follow an intensive training course when they join. This training prepares them for the range of different calls they can expect and introduces them to the extensive information resources that BackCare has available. Furthermore, twice a year the volunteers attend a refresher day during which the volunteers receive updates on back pain related information and mentoring to help them with emotionally difficult calls.
Quality assurance
To monitor the quality of the support and information that the BackCare Helpline provides, we regularly contact a random selection of callers to our Helpline. This ensures that we can continuously improve the service that we provide. If you do have any praise, comments, suggestions or complaints, please contact BackCare and ask for the Helpline Manager.
BackCare’s information research
The information resources available to the Helpline have been developed by BackCare staff and volunteers. We use the latest research evidence to make sure that information provided by BackCare is reliable and valid. Where there is a lack of reliable research evidence, we rely on professional opinions from the range of people we are in contact with, including patients. When assessing the quality of information we try to answer a range of different questions such as:
- Is there reliable evidence from high quality and large scientific studies?
- How many people have reported benefits and how many have reported no benefits or even negative effects?
- What do appropriately qualified professionals think of the treatment, product or information?
- How do the potential benefits compare to potential risks and costs?
- Can we find the same information from multiple sources?
These questions give some indication on the quality of the information.