A federal government funding boost will pave the way for a much-needed, tailored program for culturally diverse communities experiencing musculoskeletal pain.
Dr Saurab Sharma, the Chief Clinical Scientist from the Pain Management and Research Centre at Royal North Shore Hospital, has received a National Health and Medical Research Council investigator grant to progress his research and develop an innovative treatment plan.
Investigator grants are awarded to only a small number of leading scientists in Australia each year to advance health research.
As a researcher within the Kolling Institute, Dr Sharma said a specific, co-designed program is needed as culturally and linguistically diverse Australians often miss out on high quality care due to cultural, language, and health literacy barriers.
“These communities are often excluded from research including clinical trials, which means evidence-based treatments are designed without their input or experiences,” he said.
“Ultimately, this means Australians from diverse backgrounds receive poor care and experience poorer outcomes compared to other Australians.”
The $700,000 grant will support the development of a digital, pain-management treatment program for communities from Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Nepali, and Vietnamese backgrounds with musculoskeletal pain.
“Importantly, the program will be co-designed with individuals with lived experiences of musculoskeletal pain, healthcare professionals from respective cultural backgrounds, and world-leading musculoskeletal pain experts,” he said.
“Our initiative aims to empower marginalised and disadvantaged communities, build research capacity within these communities, and foster a greater understanding of pain among community members and healthcare professionals to transform pain management for these vulnerable communities.
“Encouragingly, our program could be adopted on a global scale as it will be tailored for Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Mandarin, Nepali, and Vietnamese languages, which are spoken by over 2.2 billion people globally.
“A cultural and linguistic adaptation of the educational resources could benefit approximately a quarter of the world’s population.
“We hope the pain management program will enhance health equity, reduce costs and inform national and international guidelines on musculoskeletal pain.”