School Attendance Pre- and Post-Pandemic in Adolescents with Chronic Pain

<b>Background/Objective</b>: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a widespread transition to online learning. Yet, it is unclear how this shift in learning format impacted school attendance in adolescents with chronic pain, a group that struggles with school absenteeism. This study compared school attendance and format (e.g., in-person, online) in patients with chronic pain attending an Intensive Interdisciplinary Pain Treatment Program (IIPT) before the pandemic to an age- and gender-matched sample of youth attending the program after the pandemic. <b>Methods</b>: Participants were 226 school aged adolescents (13-18 years; <i>M</i> age = 15.89, <i>SD</i> = 1.46) enrolled in an IIPT before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients admitted before March 2020 (pre-pandemic group; <i>n</i> = 113) were compared to an age- and gender-matched group of patients who were admitted to the IIPT from November 2021 to November 2023 (post-pandemic group = 113). Upon admission to the program, participants completed validated measures of internalizing symptoms and functional disability. They also completed structured questions related to pain and school history. <b>Results</b>: Significantly more patients in the post-pandemic group were attending school through online and home-schooling options (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Youth who attended the IIPT after the pandemic missed fewer school days (<i>p</i> < 0.05) than those who attended before the pandemic. The groups did not differ in functional disability or internalizing symptoms. However, participants in the post-pandemic group who attended online school missed more school days (<i>p</i> < 0.01) and experienced greater functional disability (<i>p</i> < 0.05) than those who attended in person. <b>Conclusions</b>: The findings highlight how the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to sustained changes in the way adolescents with chronic pain attend school, with implications for increased functional disability and school dropout among this vulnerable population.