Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

"Chronic pain is a growing concern across the globe and in Canada ⁷. Research suggests that hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year in Canada to treat people with chronic pain, and equally high amounts of money are forfeited through absenteeism and loss of productivity ¹⁷. This issue needs to be urgently addressed in Canada for the health of individuals, and for the fiscal well-being of the country. While women experience chronic pain at a higher rate than men ¹⁶, they are understudied when it comes to pain research ⁹. As a result, there exists an opportunity to improve knowledge regarding how chronic pain treatment can be tailored to benefit the women experiencing persistent pain. The primary objective of this research project is to explore the experience of meaning and its relation to shaping life for Canadian women with chronic pain. To achieve this objective, this project hopes to establish an evidence-based foundation to support the importance of incorporating meaning into the biopsychosocial understanding of chronic pain. The research question is as follows: <em><span style=text-decoration: underline;>What is the experience of meaning for Canadian women living well with chronic pain?</em> Using the voice-centered methodology of the Listening Guide ¹, Canadian women living well with chronic pain will be prompted with the following discussion question: ""Can you describe your experience of meaning in life?"" This research is integral to the unsilencing of women as self-experts in their own medical care. The study also hopes to contribute to the medical field and to the discipline of psychology by exploring the little-known significance of the essence of wholeness and meaning for women with persistent pain, thereby transforming Canadian health outcomes and reducing costs associated with chronic pain."