ArticlePain research & management
Exploring the lived experience of adults using prescription opioids to manage chronic noncancer pain.
Article in Pain research & management. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Experiences of people taking opioid medication for chronic non-malignant pain: a qualitative evidence synthesis using meta-ethnography.BMJ open · 2020Pooled it
- Differential Effects of Substance Use on HIV Care and Symptom Outcomes: A Longitudinal Analysis Among People with HIV.AIDS patient care and STDs · 2025Trial
- #Opioids: A Mixed-Methods Examination of Top Opioid-Related Content on TikTok.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2025Article
- Opioid Use and Prescription Opioid Use Disorder: Biopsychosocial Characterisation of a Clinical Chronic Pain Cohort.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Article
- 'I crave not to feel uncomfortable' - investigating craving for opioids and cannabis among individuals with chronic pain.Drugs (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Do FIQR Severity Categories and Symptoms, Differentiate Between Continuous, Intermittent and Non-Opioid Users in the Treatment of Fibromyalgia?Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2024Observational
- Opioid-related policy changes: Experiences and perspectives from people who use opioids to manage non-cancer chronic pain.Drug and alcohol review · 2023Article
- Defining pain-validation: The importance of validation in reducing the stresses of chronic pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others' Use of Numerical Pain Scales.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Persistent Spinal Pain Syndrome: New Terminology for a New Era.Journal of pain research · 2021Article
- The Medication Experience: A Concept Analysis.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Living with opioids: A qualitative study with patients with chronic low back pain.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2020Article
- "My life is under control with these medications": an interpretative phenomenological analysis of managing chronic pain with opioids.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2020Article
- Patient and provider differences in the treatment of opioid-induced constipation: a qualitative study.BMC gastroenterology · 2019Article
- Framing of the opioid problem in cancer pain management in Canada.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2019Article
- Willingness to Participate in Longitudinal Research Among People with Chronic Pain Who Take Medical Cannabis: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2018Article
- Effectiveness of long-term opioid therapy among chronic non-cancer pain patients attending multidisciplinary pain treatment clinics: A Quebec Pain Registry study.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2018Article
- Analgesic use by ageing and elderly patients with chronic non-malignant pain: a qualitative study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2017Article
- "One Size Fits All" Doesn't Fit When It Comes to Long-Term Opioid Use for People with Chronic Pain.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2017Article
- Knowledge, Beliefs, and Attitudes of Emergency Nurses Toward People With Chronic Pain.SAGE open nursingArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChronic noncancer pain (CNCP) and prescription opioid use is a highly complex and growing health care issue in Canada. Many quantitative research studies have investigated the effectiveness of opioids for chronic pain; however, gaps remain in the literature regarding the personal experience of using opioids and their impact on those experiencing CNCP.
objectiveTo explore the lived experience of adults using prescription opioids to manage CNCP, focusing on how opioid medication affected their daily lives.
methodsIn-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with nine adults between 40 and 68 years of age who were using prescription opioids daily for CNCP. Interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed, and subsequently analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis.
resultsSix major themes identified positive and negative aspects of opioid use associated with social, physical, emotional and psychological dimensions of pain management. These themes included the process of decision making, and physical and psychosocial consequences of using opioids including pharmacological side effects, feeling stigmatized, guilt, fears, ambivalence, self-protection and acceptance.
conclusionAlthough there were many negative aspects to using opioids daily, the positive effects outweighed the negative for most participants and most of the negative aspects were socioculturally induced rather than caused by the drug itself. The present study highlighted the complexities involved in using prescription opioids daily for management of CNCP for individuals living with pain.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.