What topics does this cannabis study cover?

This study covers research on: Pain.

Where was this research published?

Published in BMJ open on May 3, 2026.

Building a user-centered guide for chronic pain management decisions

Q: What did this research study find?

Chronic pain affects **one in five people globally**, yet treatment guidelines remain fragmented and often conflict with each other, leading to suboptimal care and confusion among patients and providers. This research describes a new initiative to address that gap: the development of a digital Chron

Integrating users' perspectives during the development of the Chronic Pain Recommendation Map: protocol for a qualitative descriptive study.

BMJ open • May 3, 2026 • Moderately Relevant

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AI Summary

Chronic pain affects one in five people globally, yet treatment guidelines remain fragmented and often conflict with each other, leading to suboptimal care and confusion among patients and providers. This research describes a new initiative to address that gap: the development of a digital Chronic Pain Recommendation Map (e-Chronic Pain RecMap), a freely accessible platform designed to synthesize evidence-based recommendations for managing chronic pain. Importantly, the platform will focus on three priority areas: opioids, cannabis, and spine-related interventional procedures—recognizing that cannabis has become an increasingly important consideration in pain management discussions.

This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach to integrate the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups during the RecMap's development. The researchers will conduct online interviews with approximately 20 participants, carefully sampled to represent health researchers, healthcare providers, people with lived experience of chronic pain, and policymakers. By gathering feedback on the platform's design, usability, content relevance, and clarity throughout development, the team aims to create a resource that genuinely meets user needs and expectations. This participatory approach is significant because it ensures that real-world perspectives—particularly from patients who actually use cannabis or other pain management strategies—help shape an evidence-based tool.

The ultimate goal is to improve pain literacy and increase alignment between research evidence and clinical practice. By making high-quality, synthesized recommendations freely available in an easy-to-navigate digital format, the RecMap has the potential to help both patients and healthcare providers make more informed decisions about treatment options, including cannabis. This research represents an important step toward reducing confusion in chronic pain management and democratizing access to reliable, integrated evidence that respects the complexity of individual pain experiences.

📄 Original Abstract

One in five people experience chronic pain globally, yet management remains suboptimal and discrepant guideline recommendations are common. To increase pain literacy and improve concordance between evidence and practice, we are developing a freely accessible digital Chronic Pain Recommendation Map (e-Chronic Pain RecMap) focusing on three priority areas: opioids, cannabis and spine-related interventional procedures. The aim of this study is to gather participants' perspectives on the mockups of the RecMap interfaces throughout its development, in terms of design, usability, content relevance and clarity. Feedback will guide iterative refinements of the platform and align the RecMap with user expectations and needs. We will use a qualitative descriptive approach to explore participants' perspectives through online semi-structured interviews. Participants will be purposively sampled to include health researchers, healthcare providers, individuals with living or lived experience of chronic pain and policymakers. Based on information power, we aim to recruit approximately 20 participants, at least 5 participants per target user group, with assessment of sample size adequacy throughout data collection. We will analyse interview transcripts using inductive content analysis and findings will inform iterative refinements to the RecMap's content and design. To increase methodological rigour, we will apply established qualitative descriptive techniques including detailed description of data analysis, triangulation of investigators, thick data description, dependability, confirmability and reflexivity. The Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board approved this study. We will conduct online interviews and record audio only. After transcription, we will de-identify all collected data and ensure that participants' names are not linked to any transcripts or study materials. We will share a summary of our final findings with participants and interest-holders via email, and we plan to publish the final manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal.

Paper Type

📄 Research

Publication

Journal: BMJ open
Published: May 3, 2026
PMID: 42082242
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-114523

Authors (11)

Ligia Cordovani Department of Anesthesia, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Kian Torabiardakani Department of Anesthesia, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Lynn Cooper Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Stacey A Ritz Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Jaris Swidrovich Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
+6 more authors