Brazilian primary care teams show uneven readiness for online pain education

A cross-sectional online survey of 155 primary healthcare providers found that organizational readiness for referring people with chronic musculoskeletal pain to the EducaDor online pain education program was generally low across Brazilian public health system Family Health teams. The mean score on the Brazilian version of the Organizational Readiness for Implementing Change questionnaire, known as ORIC-Br, was 3.4, with a standard deviation of 1.1 and a 95% confidence interval of 3.2 to 3.5. The study examined whether primary care teams appeared ready to support referrals to EducaDor at the secondary level of care.

Participants were an average of 39.2 years old, with a standard deviation of 10.6, and 87.7%, or 136 of the 155 respondents, were women. Of the providers, 65, or 41.9%, worked in Family Health teams only, while 90, or 58.1%, worked in Family Health teams with a multidisciplinary team. The researchers analyzed the ORIC-Br change-efficacy and change-commitment domains using two interpretations: a mean score of at least 4 indicated readiness for change in a domain, while a proportion of at least 50% of respondents scoring 4 or higher was also treated as indicating readiness.

Family Health teams with multidisciplinary staff showed higher levels of both measures than teams without multidisciplinary staff. In multidisciplinary teams, 47.7%, representing 43 providers, met the reported threshold for change efficacy, and 50%, representing 45 providers, met it for change commitment. Among teams without multidisciplinary staff, the corresponding proportions were 35.4%, or 23 providers, and 37%, or 24 providers. These descriptive differences are consistent with an association between multidisciplinary team configurations and greater organizational readiness, but the cross-sectional design does not establish that multidisciplinary staffing caused the difference.

The study assessed organizational readiness rather than the clinical effectiveness of EducaDor or patient outcomes after referral. It therefore does not show whether the online program improves pain, function, treatment adherence or access to secondary care. The findings instead identify that many primary care teams may not yet have the perceived capacity and shared commitment needed to adopt a new referral pathway. The authors concluded that readiness for referring users to EducaDor was low in most Family Health teams, while teams with multidisciplinary configurations showed comparatively higher readiness for change. Because the research was based on an online cross-sectional survey, it provides a snapshot of provider perceptions at the time of assessment and does not show how readiness changes over time or whether readiness translates into successful implementation.

Subject of Research: Organizational readiness among Brazilian primary healthcare teams to refer people with chronic musculoskeletal pain to an online pain education program

Article Title: Assessment of organizational readiness for implementing an online pain education program for chronic musculoskeletal pain in Brazilian public health context: a cross-sectional study

Article References: Baroni, M. P., Bomfim, R. A., Gallon, B. C., Bim, C. R., Hespanhol, L., & Saragiotto, B. T. (2026). Assessment of organizational readiness for implementing an online pain education program for chronic musculoskeletal pain in Brazilian public health context: a cross-sectional study. BMC Health Services Research. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-15372-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-15372-7

Keywords: Brazil, primary healthcare, chronic musculoskeletal pain, online pain education, organizational readiness, implementation science, multidisciplinary teams, health services research, behavior change, Assessment, organizational, readiness