1. Methods
The study used a mixed methods design and so
employed both qualitative and quantitative
techniques
Quantitative: An online survey was created to collect
data, which consisted of several measures including:
Participants: (n=200) Inclusion criteria: an experience
of pain in the last month or an experience of anxiety
and used painkillers in the last month.
Qualitative: In-depth semi-structured interviews were
also conducted.
Participants: (n=12) Inclusion criteria: used painkillers
in the last month and are concerned about their level
or type of painkiller use, and either experienced pin at
least 15 days in the last month, or experienced anxiety
that is not necessarily associated with pain (e.g. social
anxiety or generalised trait anxiety).
Data were analysed by a correlational statistical
analysis and interpretative phenomenological
analyses.
1 Office for National Statistics, 2013
2 Reay, 2008; House of Commons Home Affairs
Committee, 2013
3 Elander et al., 2013; Page and Elander, 2014
4 Colloca and Benedetti, 2007
5 Social Anxiety Support Forum, 2013
6 Image sourced from:
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/81162798
88/sizes/o/]
Preliminary results
Some emergent themes from the initial interview are;
Loneliness/helplessness:
- Feelings of self vs the other in in-group and out-group
stereotyping;
“the first thing you think is ‘it will never
happen to me… I’m not one of them’”
- Lack of support from medical professionals from which help is
expected;
“I also went through the drug addiction
clinic, but they said they don’t deal with
people like me”
- Lack of understanding from close friends and family;
“it irritates my husband because he can’t see
me suffering and it’s causing arguments”
Dependence:
-Change from drugs as positive pain relief to a necessity
“it’s not the positivity of it, but you’ve done
it… so you kind of, get over the hurdle”
- Cycles of reinforcement in multiple aspects of life, i.e. everyday
tasks
“if I do something it would be taking
painkillers before go through whatever I need
to go through, and then come back and have
some more because you come back with
more pain than when you left”
Aims
1. Explore individual experiences of
painkiller dependence and anxiety
using in-depth, semi-structured
interviews.
2. Examine relationships between
anxiety and painkiller dependence
using questionnaire measures.
Background
Prescription analgesics (painkillers) cause more UK
deaths than illicit opiates 1 and parliamentary
committees called for more research on addiction
to medications including analgesics 2. In previous
research, analgesic dependence was related to risk
factors for addiction more generally, but also to
pain anxiety and anxiety about pain medication 3.
Anxiety increases pain frequency and intensity,
leading to greater analgesic use 4, but other types
of anxiety may influence pain management and
analgesic use in different ways. Anxiety about
needing pain medication can inhibit analgesic use,
compromising pain management, for example, and
social anxiety forum members reported using
painkillers to self-medicate for social anxiety 5.
For more information or to take part in the research, go to
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WCuCORnrlayuIYwLXFWc62q
h9Bs07bWuNwPNkc4w53Y/viewform?usp=send_form or contact
Ada or Hannah at a.dys1@unimail.derby.ac.uk or
h.collins2@unimai.derby.ac.uk.