Congratulations to Nicole George!!

Nicole George was awarded the CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Scholarship to co-design and implement a community health intervention for chronic pain.

Summary of the project

Chronic pain is a devastating medical condition that impacts nearly 1 in 5 Canadian adults. There is a need to improve chronic pain management, to relieve the immense burden on the national health care system and improve the quality of life of individuals suffering from pain. This research aims to improve health care services for individuals with chronic pain by developing, implementing and evaluating a chronic pain management program that strategically integrates clinical care and community support. Specific objectives are to: 1) determine current community resources; 2) identify stakeholder needs and barriers; and 3) implement and evaluate an integrated pain management program with community resources. This work will be done in collaboration with individuals with chronic pain, to center the voices and needs of those directly impacted by the research.The first aim will be addressed by an online scan to determine the scope of existing local support resources for chronic pain (including educational resources, patient support groups and exercise programs). The second aim will be addressed through interviews with chronic pain patients, clinicians and community leaders, to determine their perspectives related to linking community and health care systems. These perspectives will be used to design an integrated evidence-based chronic pain management program, tailored to the local community. The final aim will be addressed by conducting a feasibility randomized clinical trial, to evaluate differences in patient outcomes between the integrated program and clinical pain management alone, in addition to evaluating the implementation process. This work is aligned with the current strategic effort to address the chronic pain crisis in Canada. By immediately assisting the community and adding to the growing literature related to pain management and delivery, this work strives to assist the Canadian initiative to improve the treatment of such common health concern.