Research priority setting to improve experiences for people living with chronic cancer-related pain
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Introduction: Chronic pain is a common side effect of cancer treatment (1). To better support people with chronic cancer-related pain, a set of evidence-based recommendations have been generated (2,3). These are summarised as: PAINS: Prepare and inform, Assess, acknowledge and listen, Increase healthcare professional knowledge, Name and diagnose, and Services and supported self-management interventions. To help drive the focus of future research, the recommendations need to be prioritised. Methods: Recommendations were prioritised in four nominal group technique (NGT) workshops and four one-to-one discussions with 21 stakeholders, including 12 public contributors with lived experience of chronic cancer-related pain and nine stakeholders in February 2025. Participants were sent recommendations in advance. Participants were asked to rank recommendations in order of research priority from most important to least important, firstly in an ‘ideal’ world (with no budgetary or system restrictions) and secondly in the ‘real’ world in which the NHS operates. Scores were calculated from all participants combined and two sub-groups 1) public contributors 2) stakeholders. University ethical approval was obtained.Results: Priority order for an ‘ideal’ world for all participants combined was 1) Increase healthcare professional knowledge 2) Assess, acknowledge and listen 3) Services and supported self-management 4) Prepare and inform 5) Name and Diagnose. Top priority for public contributors was ‘Increase healthcare professional knowledge’ and for stakeholders was ‘Services and supported self-management interventions’. Combined priority order for a ‘real’ world was 1) Increase Healthcare professional knowledge 2) Assess, acknowledge and listen 3) Prepare and inform 4) Services and supported self-management and 5) Name and diagnose. Both public contributors and stakeholders ranked ‘increase healthcare professional knowledge’ as top priority in the ‘real’ world.Conclusions: Increasing healthcare professional knowledge appears to be top priority for both people with lived experience and stakeholders. It would be valuable to extend this exercise to include more public contributors and stakeholders.1.Snijders RAH, Brom L, Theunissen M, van den Beuken-van Everdingen MHJ. Update on Prevalence of Pain in Patients with Cancer 2022: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis. Vol. 15, Cancers. MDPI; 2023. 2.Armoogum J. Chronic pain after cancer treatment: Insights from cancer survivors and healthcare professionals in England, UK to consider how cancer survivors’ experiences can be improved (PhD Thesis). [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2024 May 31]. Available from: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/106233863.Armoogum J, Llewellyn A, Foster C, Harcourt D, Hepburn J, Prior M, et al. Development of clinical recommendations to improve the care of people living with chronic pain as a long term or late effect of cancer and its treatment. British Journal of Pain Under review.
Language: English
Subfield: Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204319794