Understanding what it is like to experience pain as you grow up: a poetic meta-ethnography

A recent Lancet Commission raised concerns about the management of child and adolescent pain. We aimed to undertake a comprehensive review of qualitative research to understand children and adolescent pain experiences across contexts. We used the 7 stages of meta-ethnography to synthesise findings. We combined the strengths of arts-based methods, translating themes into poems in a range of languages. We screened 7471 titles, 464 abstracts, and 302 full texts, including 189 reports (177 unique samples) incorporating 5875 young people. Age range across studies was 2 to 38 years, with 93% including those between the age of 11 and 20 years old. Studies spanned 30 years (1993-2023) with 121 (64%) published in the last 10 years. Almost all (93%) were set-in high-income countries. We report 6 themes focusing on transition to adulthood: (1) I want to stay within the safety of home; (2) don't exclude me from my own care; (3) it might hurt but it's for my own good; (4) I rely on others but I want some independence; (5) I am no longer a child but I am not an adult yet; and (6) I wasn't prepared for the transfer to adult health care. Our findings focus on the complex transition into adulthood and the importance of creating a genuine healthcare partnership with young people by acknowledging their perspectives, creating a safe and supportive environment, and preparing them for the transition to adult pain care. Arts-based methods have the potential to make findings from qualitative evidence syntheses accessible and impactful for compassionate health care.