Grant: Catalyst Grant: Patient-Oriented Research

Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. One in five Canadian adults experience chronic back pain. The health care costs of back pain in Canada are estimated to be up to $12 billion annually, with high rates of family physician and specialist visits, diagnostic procedures, and prescription drugs. Improving access to non-medical treatment options is an especially important public health issue in Canada in the midst of the current opioid crisis. People with back pain may encounter barriers to accessing non-medical services, such as physiotherapy, which may not be publicly funded. Potential barriers include location of available services, costs, and wait times. People living in rural and remote areas and Indigenous people are more likely to experience back pain. Little is known about barriers and facilitators to health care access among rural, remote and Indigenous people with back pain compared to urban and/or non-Indigenous people. With approximately 30% of Saskatchewan's population living in rural and remote settings and 16% of the province's population being Indigenous, this is a critical gap to address. This project will explore and apply the experiences of rural, remote and urban Indigenous and non-Indigenous people with chronic back pain to develop a deeper understanding of health care access barriers and facilitators across rural, remote, and urban communities. This project will also investigate which indicators of access and effectiveness of health care for back pain are most meaningful to rural, remote and urban patients. This information will inform the development of comprehensive measures that will be sensitive to geographical location and relevant to culturally diverse patients with chronic back pain. These measures can be used in future studies to evaluate community-based chronic back pain interventions and cross provincial/ national comparisons, ultimately leading to enhanced access to more patient-centred care for chronic back pain.