Chronic pain management strategies used by low-income overweight Latinos

The objective of this study is to examine the strategies used to manage chronic pain from the perspective of the individual in group interviews.

Sixteen low-income overweight Latino adults participated in two group interviews facilitated by a trained moderator who inquired about the type of chronic pain suffered by participants, followed by more specific questions about pain management. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim (Spanish), back-translated into English, and analyzed using thematic analysis.

Participants' pain varied in type, location, and intensity. Participants discussed pain-related changes in activities and social life, and difficulties with health care providers, and as a result, we discovered five major themes: pain-related life alterations, enduring the pain, trying different strategies, emotional suffering, and encounters with health care system/providers.

Findings indicated that there are opportunities for providers to improve care for low-income overweight Latinos with chronic pain by listening respectfully to how pain alters their daily lives and assisting them in feasible self-management strategies.