Winner for Supporting our People
South Western Sydney identified that most pain management research excluded culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and, in the minimal studies published, those communities had poorer outcomes for pain, quality of life and function compared to patients from dominant cultures.
As a result a rigorous research approach to improve pain management for CALD patients was implemented. It included a review of pain management interventions and their efficacy and a qualitative enquiry with adults with chronic pain was carried out across Mandaean, Vietnamese and Assyrian groups. The findings lead to three key improvements: development of a physiotherapy-led culturally-adapted treatment, the validation of a pictorial tool to evaluate pain-related suffering and a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally-adapted assessment and treatment approach. The study highlighted significantly higher levels of patient engagement and reduced pain-related suffering compared to those who attended standard physiotherapy.
