What is it about?
Chronic pain is more prevalent in rural areas than in cities, yet access to allied health professionals to provide recommended support is limited. A range of service delivery models have been tried with varying degrees of success, so this study explored how and why these programs may work to understand what may be effective in improving access to pain management services.
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Why is it important?
The lack of available support services for pain management in rural areas results in chronic pain and increased reliance on opioid prescription, which contributes to a higher rate of deaths due to opioids.
Perspectives
I was interested in being involved in this study to improve the implementation of pain management in rural areas and to improve equity of access to health care. Using a realist research methodology offers a deeper understanding of how and why programs work or not, and working in a team provided the needed rigour for this work.
Lenore de la Perrelle
Flinders University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Increasing access to pain care services to improve rural pain management: a realist review investigating factors affecting uptake, implementation, and sustainability, Pain, January 2025, Wolters Kluwer Health,
DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003482.
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