Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Cancer pain does not end when treatment ends. For many cancer survivors, especially those who have migrated from another country, pain continues to affect their bodies, emotions, and daily lives in deep and complex ways. Yet the experiences of immigrant cancer survivors remain rarely studied or fully understood. In this project, we reviewed 31 studies from around the world that explored how immigrant cancer survivors describe and live with pain. Survivors often portrayed pain as a constant presence that persisted long after treatment. It disrupted sleep, limited movement, affected mood, and strained relationships. For many, pain shaped how they saw themselves and how they moved through daily life. Several interconnected factors influenced how survivors experienced and coped with pain. These included emotional distress, migration related challenges, cultural beliefs about suffering, relationships with family and healthcare providers, and difficulties navigating unfamiliar health systems. Language barriers, fear of being misunderstood, and cultural expectations often contributed to silence or underreporting of pain. At the same time, family support, spirituality, and faith helped many survivors find strength and meaning. A key finding is that very few studies considered immigration itself as a factor influencing pain and access to care, revealing a major gap in current research. Overall, this review highlights the need to recognize cancer related pain as a biopsychosocial experience shaped by physical, emotional, cultural, and social dimensions. Understanding these realities is essential for building more equitable, humanistic, and culturally responsive approaches to cancer pain care for immigrant populations in Canada and globally.