Since 2008, we have been gathering community, clinician and stakeholder perspectives from across the country. One of our earliest findings was that, despite the high prevalence of pain conditions among Indigenous children, there were only an estimated two out of 800 Indigenous children who were referred to the IWK Complex Pain Team from across the Maritime Provinces.
We have since gathered a team who represents community leaders, clinicians, Elders and practice-based researchers and over the past six years, we have discovered a lack of research evidence in this area, and consistently heard stories of poor pain-related health care encounters.
To better understand Indigenous children’s pain experience we began conversations with Sharon Rudderham and Shelley Young representing the Mi’kmaq community in Eskasoni. We broadened our query by contacting other pediatric pain clinics (Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver) all of which conveyed the same trends. There appeared to be a link between pain expression, assessment and the likelihood of treatment.
