Using Metaphor-Based Education and Systems Thinking for the Management of Chronic Pain in Adolescents

Science Center, Bent Corridor

In adolescents, severe chronic pain can interfere with social development as well as the transition into adulthood. The current project addresses issues related to chronic pain in adolescents, aiming to increase patient’s knowledge of chronic pain, their selfefficacy, and ability to engage in systems thinking about chronic pain. The long term goal of the project is to achieve this through the use of two interactive digital tools: one educational tool that educates adolescents and parents on chronic pain and another planning tool that helps adolescents and parents develop rehabilitation plans tailored to their individual situations. One immediate goal of the project is to develop language to help people understand the difference between chronic and acute pain that can be used in these tools. I contributed to this aspect of the project over the summer by reviewing the relevant research literature. I identified metaphors that may help increase people’s knowledge of the nature of chronic pain. By shifting the way individuals think about chronic pain away from acute pain models and towards more systemic, multi-causal models, it is expected that patient compliance and health management will improve.