Chronic Pain and Women’s Health: Developing and Scaling Out Sex and Gender Informed Resources to Nursing Students and Educators in BC

In 2021, the Canadian Pain Task Force released the Action Plan for Pain in Canada, which included six recommendations to advance action on pain in Canada, including the need to increase awareness, education, and specialized training in pain. The Task Force also identified that women are among the populations disproportionately affected by chronic pain, and that health care professionals require additional knowledge and skills to effectively treat and manage pain. This project will respond to the recommendation and subsequent recommendations for action identified by CEWH researchers.
The purpose of this project is to create a research and educational agenda that improves how women’s health, and important sex and gender related considerations related to the experience of chronic pain and opioid use for pain management, are integrated into the BC nursing curricula. The project will: gather nursing students, nurse educators, chronic pain researchers, and people with lived and living experience of chronic pain in a hybrid learning event; prepare a research and educational agenda that identifies opportunities and priorities for women’s chronic pain in the nursing field; and create training resources for nursing students and educators.