Advancing Health Equity in Pain Management Through Community Engagement, Multi-Level Interventions, and Research Collaborations

Wed, 3/13/2024 - 9:00am - 5:00pm
Thu, 3/14/2024 - 9:00am - 12:30pm

Advancing Health Equity in Pain Management Workshop
Overview and Goal

The goal of this workshop was to find ways to support research on health equity in pain management. Health equity ensures that everyone has a fair chance at their highest level of health. Health equity is key to the National Institutes of Health’s and Helping to End Addiction Long-term® (HEAL) Initiative’s mission of reducing health disparities. Advancing health equity in pain management involves understanding and working against the systematic differences in pain prevalence, care, and outcomes among various communities, particularly those who are socially disadvantaged.

A group photo from the Advancing Health Equity in Pain Management Workshop

Workshop Attendees

This workshop included people with lived experience of pain from communities that experience health disparities, researchers from various disciplines, and NIH staff. Attendees contributed their unique perspectives to the discussions for a comprehensive approach to addressing pain disparities.

Workshop Discussions

There were three main topics that guided three separate discussion groups:

  1. Community Engagement in Pain Research: This discussion group focused on ways to improve community engagement in pain research, such as transparent communication, community representation, and trust-building between researchers and communities experiencing pain disparities. The potential for community advisory boards and the dialogue model of engagement were also discussed.
  2. Multilevel Interventions: This discussion group explored addressing social determinants of health, integrating patient support systems, and incorporating diverse pain assessment methods. They also discussed the challenges and benefits of implementing multilevel interventions.
  3. Workforce and Collaborations: This discussion group described ways to best support the current and future research workforce that aims to advance health equity in pain management. This included a conversation about understanding different forms of diversity and outlining the skills, personal characteristics, and knowledge needed to meaningfully conduct research in this area.

Additional Information