Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Who will our children grow up to be? Ideally, we want all children to become happy and productive members of society. However, for thousands of Canadian children, chronic pain seriously impairs their function, confidence, ability to attend school, socialize with friends, and achieve basic independence in their lives. The effects of chronic pain can be seen in social withdrawal, academic failure, depression, drug abuse and even suicide. Children who experience chronic pain are heavy users of healthcare services resulting not only in significant costs to the health system, but also to their parents and families. Many of these children will become adults with chronic pain, a condition that, in the United States, costs $20 billion dollars annually - as much as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined. Intensive pediatric pain rehabilitation programs, such as those that have been developed in the United States and Europe, have shown promising results in returning children to active, healthy and productive lives. Such programs are also beginning to decrease the cost of this debilitating condition. A new rehabilitation program at the Alberta Children's Hospital, the first of its kind in Canada, is trying to do the same. Using a self-management and coaching approach, the program aims to improve symptom management, increase social participation and quality of life for youth with chronic pain. Our study aims to 1) identify factors that support the implementation of such a program within hospital services; and 2) evaluate whether this new program is a) making a difference to youth with chronic pain and their parents, and b) decreasing the costs to society. The results of this research will provide information about the implementation process, effects, costs and efficiency of this program and will determine whether such programs should serve as a model for other pain rehabilitation programs across Canada.