The Experiences of People Living With Chronic Pain During a Pandemic: “Crumbling Dreams With Uncertain Futures” (original) (raw)
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International Journal for Equity in Health, 2021
Co-authors: Lise Dassieu, M. Gabrielle Pagé, Anaïs Lacasse, Maude Laflamme, Vickie Perron,Audrée Janelle-Montcalm, Maria Hudspith, Gregg Moor, Kathryn Sutton, James M Thompson, Manon Choinière Background: Chronic pain affects about 20 % of the Canadian population and can lead to physical, psychological and social vulnerabilities. However, this condition remains poorly recognized and undertreated. During 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted daily living and health care systems, the situation of people with chronic pain has drawn little public attention. Methods: This qualitative study was part of a pan-Canadian mixed-methods project and aimed to understand the experiences and challenges of people living with chronic pain during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Between May and August 2020, we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 22 individuals living with chronic pain across the country. We used reflexive thematic analysis to interpret data. Results: Our findings underscored four dimensions of the chronic pain experience during the pandemic: (1) Reinforced vulnerability due to uncertainties regarding pain and its management; (2) Social network as a determinant of pain and psychological condition; (3) Increasing systemic inequities intermingling with the chronic pain experience; (4) More viable living conditions due to confinement measures. Though several participants reported improvements in their quality of life and reduced social pressure in the context of stay-at-home orders, participants from socioeconomically deprived groups and minorities reported more challenges in accessing pain relief, health care services, and psychosocial support.
Seeking Chronic Pain Relief: A Hermeneutic Exploration
Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses, 2018
In the United States, chronic pain is experienced by over 39.4 million adults, many of whom are treated with opioid pain medications. This research presents an interpretation of the experience of seeking pain relief for a group of people taking opioid pain medications whose pain is not adequately controlled. A concurrent embedded mixed-methods design was used, including a Heideggerian hermeneutic qualitative approach that focuses on the participants' perceptions as a vehicle for understanding the phenomenon of seeking pain relief with descriptive quantitative data in a supporting role. Thirteen interviews and 15 surveys were analyzed, all of which met the following criteria: (1) self-reported chronic pain (persistent pain lasting a minimum of six months), (2) current use of prescription opioid medications, (3) pain not successfully controlled. The analysis revealed a paradox, which we describe as being lost/finding myself in the health care system. This paradox became the overar...
Lived Experiences of the Patients with COVID-19: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology
Journal of Caring Sciences
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is a considerable challenge for infected patients who require more attention for recovery. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the lived experience of patients with COVID-19. Methods: This qualitative, hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted in the southeast of Iran from March to May 2020. The data were purposefully collected from 16 patients with COVID-19. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured telephone interviews and analyzed using the Van Manen method. Results: The lived experiences of patients were categorized into five themes, including incredible clinical symptoms of COVID-19, horror and stigma, bad memories of hospitalization, trust in God and hope as recovery agents from COVID-19, and reborn after recovery from COVID-19. Conclusion: Patients with COVID-19 have experienced variety of physical and psychosocial challenges. Health care providers have to supply appropriate strategies to fulfill the infected patients nee...
Journal of contextual behavioral science, 2020
For people who struggle with chronic pain, the COVID-19 pandemic poses new challenges in treatment accessibility and may heighten pre-existing anxiety related to their health condition. Likewise, many mental health providers are struggling to adapt to a new way of caring for these individuals. The current paper aims to provide evidence of the ways in which COVID-19 is impacting people with pain and to offer a contextual-behavioral perspective on treatment of patients with chronic pain during the current pandemic and any future periods of mandated physical distancing. Past research shows that adolescents and adults with chronic pain struggle with loneliness and social isolation, which emphasizes the importance of remaining connected with these patients while they are remaining at home. Further, many individuals with chronic pain have physical and mental health comorbidities that may increase the risk of COVID-19 infection and/or morbidity and mortality. Specific functional-contextual and biopsychosocial concepts common in multidisciplinary treatment of chronic pain can be usefully incorporated into a telehealth model of ACT treatment for pain. These include the use of pandemicrelated metaphors, modeling acceptance of technical glitches that occur during telehealth sessions, and mindfully observing facial expressions on the computer screen when the patient is in pain. Moreover, powerful experiential exercises that make use of pandemic-related themes (e.g., wearing a mask, washing hands) are described. While barriers to the widespread implementation of ACT-consistent telehealth exist, connecting with patients in new and creative ways will be essential as the field moves forward.
The role of chronic pain and suffering in contemporary society
Tidsskrift for Forskning i Sygdom …, 2011
The structure and organization of health care is a salient political issue across nations and welfare states. It is important not only from an economic perspective, but also from a social and political perspective regarding the possibility of maintaining a proper qualitative level of health ...
Walk a mile in my shoes: reflecting on studies with people with chronic pain
In invisible illness, like chronic pain, often people encounter a lack of empathy because others cannot see what is 'wrong' with them. This can lead to feelings that their condition is disregarded or minimised. In this paper, we reflect on the empathic aspect of some of our encounters when doing qualitative studies with people with chronic pain, and how they affected the study and the researcher.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 2021
Purpose: Long-term pain is a public health problem but few studies have focused on experiences among women with CWP. This study aimed to explore women's experiences of the impact of CWP on daily life. Method: The participants were 19 women between 45-67 years old, who had developed CWP between 1995 and 2016. Individual interviews were conducted and analysed with qualitative content analysis. Results: Daily life with CWP was expressed in the main theme "Moving between living in the shadow of pain or living a life with the pain in the shadows" including three themes and eight subthemes; 1) living with invisible challenges by feeling neglected as a person and feeling lonely among other people; 2) struggling with limitations by moving between ability and inability, stress and worries, and being dependent on others; and 3) encountering daily life with varying degrees of flexibility by standing still and giving up, moving back and forth by adapting and striving forward with resistance. Conclusions: Women experienced different ways of how CWP influenced their daily life with challenges, limitations, and flexibility. Daily life with CWP entails moving between living in the shadow of pain and living a life with the pain in the shadows.
Pain: The Door to Agony and Ecstasy in Time of Covid-19 Pandemic
Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2020
The paper attempts to locate pain mental and physical at the intersections of spiritual-philosophy and contingencies of viral agony. Through an extrapolation of dialectics of vipassana as mode of being and becoming, the paper situates pain through the exegesis of experience and the current pandemic as an expression immanent within healing.
Healthcare, 2024
Background/Objectives: Pain is a complex and subjective experience influenced by psychological, cultural, and social factors. This study aims to investigate how social perceptions of pain affect the lived experiences and coping mechanisms of individuals suffering from pain. By comparing public discourse with the experiences of sufferers, we explore whether the social legitimacy of pain influences how it is managed. Methods: A multi-phase qualitative study was conducted, comprising eight focus groups with members of the Spanish general population and 19 in-depth interviews with individuals suffering from various types of pain. The focus groups explored social perceptions of pain’s legitimacy, while the interviews delved into the sufferers’ personal experiences. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns and disparities between public discourse and individual narratives. Results: The focus groups revealed widespread social empathy towards all types of pain. However, interviewees reported significant social pressure to normalize their behavior and downplay their pain. Many felt misunderstood, unsupported, and stigmatized, especially in environments where they held subordinate roles, such as the workplace or healthcare settings. Sufferers often resorted to silence or isolation to avoid judgment. Conclusions: While Spanish society outwardly legitimizes all forms of pain, sufferers experience significant discrepancies between public empathy and actual social support. The findings suggest that raising awareness alone is insufficient, and that structural changes are needed to address the daily burdens that individuals face when coping with pain, particularly in workplace and healthcare environments.