Making sense of living well with persistent pain.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Living well with persistent pain: An interpretative phenomenological analysis to make sense of this experience with those who have previously attended a pain service.
IRAS ID
272840
Contact name
Susan May
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Plymouth
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Despite its high prevalence and devastating impact persistent pain (PP) and what constitutes effective management are still poorly understood. One approach that is beginning to be used to help to address this is to focus on those who adapt to the challenge of living with pain rather than the negative experiences that have traditionally been the focus.
An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) will be used with 4-6 participants who self-identify as living well with pain at least 12 months after discharge from a pain service to better understand the experience of living well with pain through the detailed interpretation and exploration of what this means to them and how they make sense of this. Purposive sampling will be used for recruitment from the pain service in the Northern Devon Healthcare Trust. A semi-structured interview informed by the research question, aims and literature review as well as further development through patient and public involvement will be used to collect the data. This will be analysed in an iterative and inductive way in accordance with agreed IPA methods. The use of an external reviewer and a reflective diary will be used to improve the trustworthiness of the project.
The aim is to provide a rich and detailed understanding of living well with pain from the perspective of those that have attended pain services. Building this understanding will in turn help to understand what helps patients to continue to live well and the strategies they use to do this for use by clinicians and patients alike.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0286
Date of REC Opinion
22 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion