Mrs Ashley Grant1, Peter Hibbert1, Emma Karran1, Gill Westthorp3, Abbie Norrish2, Tanushka Alva2, Kevin James2, Dianne Wilson1,2, Louise Wiles1, Hayley Leake1, Carolyn Berryman1, Amelia Mardon4, G Lorimer Moseley1
1IIMPACT in Health at University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia, 2Pain Revolution, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia, 3RREALI at Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, Australia, 4NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University, Wesemead, Australia
Biography:
Ashley has recently completed her PhD investigating rural Australian pain care primarily through a realist research lens. In her post-doctorate research, she is continuing her investigation of rural Australian pain care through evaluation of a rural healthcare provider capacity building program and co-designing a rural community education campaign.
Abstract:
Pain care provided in rural, regional, and remote Australian settings often diverges from guideline recommendations. Our research group has been investigating this issue and implementing strategies to help resolve it. We recently conducted a realist needs assessment of rural Australian chronic pain management. We identified that community pain care norms and models of care are key factors explaining why providers deliver guideline-divergent pain care in rural Australian settings. The not-for-profit initiative, Pain Revolution, has developed innovative programs that address some of these factors by upskilling rural healthcare providers in modern pain care and supporting them to spread this information with their rural communities. We conducted a realist evaluation of these programs. We interviewed 31 program participants and conducted interviews and focus groups with 13 healthcare providers from their local communities. Preliminary data analysis suggests that program participants improved the quality of pain care in their rural communities through an enhanced confidence in modern pain science, a gained sense of belonging to like-minded healthcare providers, and an establishment of local professional connections. Programs such as these that help address and overcome social and systemic challenges appear to enhance the provision of recommended pain care in rural Australian communities. Current work is seeking to embed public messaging alongside these capacity-building initiatives.