ArticleBMC family practice2015
Exploring the experience of chronic pain among female Survival Sex Workers: a qualitative study.
Article in BMC family practice, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social dimensions as explanatory approaches for the development of chronic pain: a meta-ethnography of qualitative studies.International journal for equity in health · 2025Pooled it
- Co-designing interventions for chronic pain: A participatory action research study with south Asian women.British journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- Women's experiences of living with chronic pain: A qualitative meta-synthesis.British journal of health psychology · 2025Article
- Attending to Marginalization in The Chronic Pain Literature: A Scoping Review.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2024Article
- Physical pain among Indigenous Peoples in Canada: a scoping review.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2023Article
- Health-related quality of life of female sex workers living with HIV in South Africa: a cross-sectional study.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2022Article
- The relationship between patients' income and education and their access to pharmacological chronic pain management: A scoping review.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2022Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe prevalence of self-identified chronic pain in Canadian adults is approximately one in five people. Marginalization and addictions have been shown to complicate chronic pain in vulnerable populations. This study aimed to understand the experience of chronic pain among female Survival Sex Workers in Vancouver's downtown eastside (DTES).
methodsThis study used an exploratory qualitative analysis with in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Members of PACE Society who self-identified as a current or former Survival Sex Worker and who had a chronic pain experience known to PACE support workers were invited to participate. Interviews were conducted, audio recorded and transcribed. The investigators met to read the transcripts and discuss emerging themes. The process continued until no new themes were observed.
resultsParticipants ranged in age from 42 to 56 years old and all self- identified as females and Survival Sex Workers. Eleven of thirteen interviews were analyzed for themes. Drug use for pain management, both prescribed and illicit, was the most important theme. Poverty, the need to continue working and the lack of stable housing were barriers to adequately addressing the source of chronic pain. Participants felt judged for living in the downtown eastside, being a drug user and/or being Aboriginal and only two participants had been referred to a pain specialist. All participants were involved in support networks made up of other Sex Workers and all spoke of a sense of community and survival.
conclusionsOur study emphasizes the complex nature of chronic pain and addictions among a uniquely marginalized population. The study is unique in that it contributes the perspectives of a traditionally "hard-to-reach" population and demonstrates that Sex Workers should not only participate in but should lead development and implementation of research and programs for managing chronic pain in the setting of addiction.
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.