Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Fibromyalgia is a medical syndrome characterized by chronic widespread pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, psychological disorders, and cognitive impairment. While pain is the primary symptom, many patients suggest cognitive impairment is a prominent concern. Cognitive impairment includes difficulty with memory, attention, word finding, and mental slowness. These symptoms contribute to difficulties with daily functioning such as communication and forgetting medications and appointments. In turn, these difficulties can contribute to social isolation, loss of employment, and poor treatment outcomes in fibromyalgia overall. Currently, there is no cure or ideal treatment for cognitive impairment in fibromyalgia due in part to our limited understanding of the causes of this symptom. Other symptoms of fibromyalgia including pain, sleep disturbance, and psychological disorders have been shown to contribute, and the medications used to treat these symptoms can also produce cognitively impairing side effects. Importantly, these symptoms do not completely explain cognitive impairment in fibromyalgia, which suggests there is much that we do not yet know about it's cause. Limited research is available on patients’ experiences, which may improve our understanding of the factors contributing to cognitive impairment in fibromyalgia. To address this gap and improve our understanding and management of fibromyalgia-related cognitive impairment, this study will invite individuals with fibromyalgia to participate in interviews about their perspectives and experiences of cognitive impairment. Understanding patients’ perspectives and experiences may inspire new lines of research and highlight new opportunities for treatment and management of cognitive impairment in fibromyalgia.