Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Chronic pain is a mounting public health concern that has been paralleled by a distinct rise in prescription opioid misuse in recent years. Particularly among individuals with a history of substance use, previous literature has found alarmingly high rates of chronic pain and prescription opioid misuse. Previous studies have also demonstrated that individuals with a history of substance use are more likely to receive inadequate pain relief. As a result of mismanaged pain in the clinical setting, people who inject drugs may avoid health care due to perceived stigma or mistreatment, self-discharge from health care services against medical advice, or self-manage their pain in ways that pose high risk for injury, illness or death. In this regard, my preliminary research has found a potential link between people who inject drugs being denied a prescription for pain medication and self-managing pain via heroin or prescription opioids. This work aims to expand on my preliminary findings, fill the current void in the literature, and improve chronic pain treatment by exploring the role that chronic pain and clinical pain management practices may play in driving prescription opioid misuse, other drug use (e.g., heroin, marijuana), high-risk drug use behaviors (e.g., injection drug use, syringe sharing), and health outcomes (e.g., overdose, accessing addiction treatment and other health care services) among people who inject drugs.