New project: Flippin’ Pain through Storytelling

On the 30th of April we are facilitating our first digital storytelling workshop for the new project Flippin’ Pain through Storytelling funded by AHRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA), Teesside University.

What is this project doing?

Persistent pain effects 30-50% of the UK and is the biggest cause of disability. Public misconceptions about pain are common and a significant barrier to good management leading to the development and maintenance of the condition. This project is seeking to address these public misconceptions by improving public understanding through Storytelling.  We will organise Digital Storytelling workshops to support the co-creation of short films in which participants will reflect on their pain journey. These films will be shared at public events and on online platforms to increase public awareness on pain management by amplifying lived and living experiences of pain.

Why is it needed?

Why does it matter?

Persistent pain disproportionately impacts upon people from disadvantaged communities. They would most benefit from the messages in the campaign but, inadvertently because the campaign has not been able to engage them yet, this could lead to wider health inequalities because better off communities are more likely to engage and thus more likely to benefit. Digital Storytelling will offer an additional approach to expand the reach of the campaign by creating a safe, accessible and inclusive space for often excluded communities and individuals by collectively reframing ways of listening and mutual learning.

Who is it for?

This project is for the general public but has a specific focus on people from disadvantaged communities (e.g. people living in areas of lower socioeconomic rating [as rated by the Index of multiple deprivation] and people from minoritised groups). People with persistent pain, or individuals living with people who have been affected by persistent pain are more like to engage, however given the preventive nature of the project we also seek to engage with those who do not have persistent pain.

Who will benefit from knowing about your research?

Knowing about our research will benefit those with pain by reducing misconceptions which act as a barrier to engaging with appropriate management. It will benefit the friends and family of people with pain by helping them to understand the condition better and giving them insight into how they can help. Finally, it will benefit people who do not have persistent pain but will be at risk of developing the condition through existing misconceptions that encourage painogenic cognitions and behaviours. Within these three groups we will be seeking to specifically target those from more disadvantaged communities who have been less likely to engage with our public health campaign to date.

It will also benefits health providers by proposing Storytelling as an innovative way to understand more deeply their patients’ pain journeys that could potentially lead to a change of practice.

How will the project work? Working collaboratively, using a combination of digital and participatory storytelling techniques, the team will co-produce a piece of theatre and a collection of short films based on the lives of people with lived experience of pain whose lives were radically positively changed by better understanding their pain. Through these stories the key pain science messages of the campaign will be communicated in a targeted way to the general public, especially those from disadvantaged communities, in a manner that fosters greater engagement and interaction with the scientific content than traditional public science communications strategies.