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Message from the Editors
Dr. Cathy Jeffery, Dr. Susan Tupper
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2022 will be a productive year for SaskPain. The Board recently held a planning meeting to reaffirm the SaskPain Vision/Mission and to outline goals and activities for the upcoming year. Building on accomplishments to date and the feedback from people who have lived experience with pain, their care providers and supporters, we look forward to maximizing the opportunities that 2022 promises for the development of pain management resources and strategies in Saskatchewan.
Here are some highlights from our planning meeting that outline action goals over the upcoming year:
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- Our Website. Ensure our website reflects our Vision/Mission as a relevant resource for those living with pain and for healthcare providers in Saskatchewan. We need your input! Partner with us and share ideas for how we can improve our website. Complete this very brief online survey to share your ideas: https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/SaskPainwebsite_2022
- Partners in Pain 2.0. Building on the success of the Partners in Pain sessions, pursue funding for Partners in Pain 2.0 to keep this important initiative going and to expand the reach and resources throughout the province.
- Develop our Board. Add to the current Board member expertise through an assessment of additional skill sets and connections.
- Prestigious national award for prominent Saskatchewan pain researcher and pain management treatments and resources.
- SaskPain continues to partner on the research project, "Improving Pain in Saskatchewan", that aims to co-design new services for pain in the province.
- Partners in Pain - the online sessions.
- Your Partners in Pain podcasts.
- Research opportunities.
- Resources for pain management - local and national.
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Canadian Pain Society Distinguished Career Award -
Dr. Thomas Hadjistavropoulos
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Thomas Hadjistavropoulos, PhD, ABPP, FCAHS, is the Research Chair in Aging and Health and Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Regina. With a primary focus on pain in dementia, his work has emphasized development/validation of observational pain assessment approaches, widely cited clinical consensus guidelines, knowledge translation (e.g., resources for patients, web-based training for clinicians), pain self-management, biopsychosocial model development, policy studies and development of advanced technologies to facilitate pain assessment in older adults. Professor Hadjistavropoulos has been funded through a succession of grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and AGE WELL Network of Centres of Excellence. He has published close to 250 peer reviewed articles and book chapters as well as 7 books. He is Editor-in-Chief of Ethics & Behavior.
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Dr. Hadjistavropoulos will deliver a keynote lecture at the Canadian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting being held in Montreal in May 2022.
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Improving Pain in SK Research Project:
The Improving Pain in Saskatchewan (IPSK) Research team has been busy with data collection, analysis, and knowledge mobilization. Find study updates on our website at: https://www.saskpain.ca/pain-research/
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Achievements and activities update:
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- 152 interviews with people living with chronic pain and family caregivers, healthcare providers, health services decision makers, and community based organization representatives.
- 61 recommended change strategies were identified, including service program elements (what programs or services needed to improve pain) and service delivery elements (how care can be delivered) Recommended Change Strategies
- Yorkton area working group has held 15 online Partners in Pain education and support group sessions with 387 people attending live and 404 video views on YouTube.
- Saskatoon area working group is pleased to announce they received funding from the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) and Saskatchewan Centre for Patient Oriented Research (SCPOR) to develop graphic medicine stories (educational comics) about pain-related stigma and patient-oriented solutions. This project was profiled in an article titled, "Supporting solutions to Saskatchewan's growing addictions problem" by Greg Basky for SHRF on March 30, 2022.
- Regina area working group has been busy engaging stakeholders to prioritize and select change strategies for their Phase 2 activities.
- Our team is busy mobilizing what we learned in the interviews. Two scientific posters were submitted to the Canadian Pain Society conference and we are preparing two manuscripts on the research.
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Want to keep posted on our research?
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Partners in Pain - The Online Sessions
This interactive workshop series continues to bring Phase 2 of the Yorkton and area Improving Pain in SK project to life!
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Sessions are offered every two weeks on an alternating schedule of Tuesday evenings and Wednesday afternoons.
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Sessions consist of guest speakers who present on a variety of interesting topics related to pain management. In addition, a person with lived experience shares their story and strategies, and the session concludes with an activity that can range from an art project to the art of the practice of mindfulness techniques.
All of the sessions are recorded and can be found on SaskPain's website or at the YouTube link below: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW65XxpJJNQryHSGnzFV30Q/
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Recordings of the sessions are continually being added. Topics of sessions relating to pain to date include massage therapy, sleep, managing stress, biomedical dry needling, how culture shapes the world of pain, caregiver well-being, and nutrition. Please check the YouTube link above to access these and upcoming recorded sessions.
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There are a few sessions left in this Phase and planning is underway to offer Partners in Pain 2.0 in the near future.
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Podcast & Audio Interview
Thanks to the generous support of the Community Initiatives Fund, we are continuing to offer a podcast! "Your Partners In Pain” is a resource and initiative that seeks to raise awareness, spread knowledge, and give individuals a platform to share their personal stories about living with pain. Users can download these 30-minute audio interviews to a personal device for easy listening, or stream the episodes online.
So far, we have spoken to a number of pain advocates and researchers about topics like CRPS, living with pain as a pediatric patient, self advocacy, pelvic pain and endometriosis, holistic pain care, the pain cycle, and the activities associated with the IPSK project, but we would love to hear from YOU! SaskPain is looking to speak to Saskatchewan-based individuals about their lived experience of pain, professionals who are involved in pain research, or clinicians focusing on pain management. Episodes 1 through 11 can be found on our website, social media pages, or our Transistor homepage for audio download (below).
We welcome feedback or suggestions on this endeavor, and any questions can be directed to Alexandria.pavelich@usask.ca
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Research Opportunities - Info and How to Participate
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Mindfulness Program for Teens with Menstrual Pain
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Do you know a teen living with menstrual pain? The Family Health Lab at the University of Saskatchewan is recruiting teens to take part in a study of an online mindfulness intervention group for menstrual pain.
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To participate, teens must be 14 to 18 years old, have experienced their first menstrual period, experience menstrual pain that interferes with their daily functioning (e.g., school, socializing with friends or family), live in Saskatchewan, be enrolled in high school, and have access to a computer to attend sessions from a private location.
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Participating teens would be asked to take part in a small mindfulness group with other teens who experience menstrual pain for 90 minutes weekly for six weeks online via Zoom, and to complete short online surveys.
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Therapeutic Options for the Relief of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain
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Researchers from Laval University in Quebec are conducting this pan-Canadian research project. This project aims to better understand the motivation and expectations of physicians and patients regarding the prescribing and use of medical cannabis for chronic musculoskeletal pain.
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Participation in this project consists solely in the completion of an online questionnaire which will take about 15 minutes for physicians and 25 minutes for patients. Eligible participants are physicians who follow patients with chronic pain and who do or do not authorize medical cannabis and patients with chronic pain who do or do not use cannabis for therapeutic purposes. The project is under the direction of Dr. Edeltraut Kroger and Dr. Clermont Dionne, researchers in the fields of chronic pain and medicine use. As part of the results a "decision box" for shared decision making between physician and patient is being developed to help physicians and patients decide if medical cannabis could be a therapeutic option for chronic pain management. The information collected through the questionnaire will allow to identify psychosocial, organizational, sociodemographic, and health-related factors that influence the use and prescribing of medical cannabis.
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Resources for Pain Management - Local and National
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Saskatchewan Pain Management Resources - Highlighting: USask Chronic Pain Clinic (formerly called MAC iOPS Clinic)
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The USask Chronic Pain Clinic (formerly the MAC iOPS clinic) just moved into brand new space in the Health Sciences building at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. The interprofessional team of physical therapist, pharmacists, social workers, and a physician provides person-centered, goal-oriented treatment that include medication management, multi-media pain education, and strategies for self-management. Support is ongoing through education, resources, guidance, recommendations, and community connections. In-person consultations are available in Saskatoon and virtual care for any resident of Saskatchewan. Access to the clinic's services can be through self-referral or by referral from any health professional. Check out the link to the website for more information: https://pharmacy-nutrition.usask.ca/mac/
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Beyond Stigma Video Project
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This animated video was developed in 2021 and was created to explore the impact of stigma on all aspects of treatment for people living with opioid use disorder. It was created in collaboration with academics, clinicians, and people with lived experience. The video has been released across Canada in 2022. Check out this excellent video at the link below:
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Dr. Andrea Furlan YouTube Videos for People with Lived Pain Experience
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Dr. Andrea Furlan MD PhD is a rehabilitation physician and pain specialist in Toronto, Ontario. She has developed YouTube videos that address chronic pain conditions, treatment, and prevention. Her videos provide practical information for people with lived pain experience and health care providers who practice in the area of pain management. In addition to English, most of her videos have closed captions in other languages including Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi, French, Filipino, and Chinese.
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