Prevention and Management of Chronic Pain in Rural Populations

Overview

The Research Need

Millions of Americans experience chronic pain. Disparities in pain and pain care affect many different populations and may lead to poor health outcomes. Adults who live in rural areas are more likely to have chronic pain, in part because of challenges to accessing effective non-opioid pain management. Research is needed to identify and reduce barriers to quality pain management in rural areas and to implement best practices toward enhancing health equity for this population.

About the Program

This program supports pragmatic clinical trials embedded within traditional and nontraditional health care settings, such as clinics, hospitals, mobile care units, community centers, or home health care. The research is designed to determine the effectiveness of different interventions in real-world rural settings.

The program also supports hybrid implementation-effectiveness trials and other implementation research on how best to engage health care providers, organizations, communities, patients and family members, and policymakers to introduce effective pain management interventions into rural communities. An important focus of this research is the local context in which interventions are delivered.