Meaningful Learnings of Pain Rehabilitation

‘What are the meaningful learnings of rehabilitation for people who have substantially improved in living with persistent pain?’ Understanding these learnings is important for improving person-centered care, facilitating better rehabilitation outcomes for those living with persistent pain and for improving the pain curricula for healthcare professionals.

This study aims to explore the meaningful learnings of rehabilitation for participants who have substantially improved in living with persistent pain.

From the participants three were men, age range was 22–69 years, duration of pain was 2-30 years. Seven interconnected themes were developed: 1) indication of negative pain and health care experiences, 2) supporting working alliance with healthcare professionals, 3) Pain Dialogue, 4) improved self-awareness and self-regulation, 5) different view on pain, 6) autonomy and personal growth and 7) hope and new perspective. Integration of these themes provided a framework for understanding meaningful learnings of rehabilitation from the participants perspective.

The interconnectedness of the themes and framing them within the process of meaningful learnings of rehabilitation, provides a novel conceptual understanding how rehabilitation can enhance recovery. The themes strongly support person-centered care, Pain Dialogue and personal growth through the lens of the lived experience. The quality of the therapeutic relationship is considered a central vehicle for improvement.

Education about pain for healthcare professionals is often limited, fragmented, and inconsistent. The content of pain education worldwide is variable and is often dominated by the biomedical model. Understanding the learning experiences of participants from this study is important for improving the pain curricula for healthcare professionals and for better outcomes in pain rehabilitation.