Chronic pain is a significant health problem, affecting nearly 10 million Britons and leading to significant lost resources in terms of time off work and negative impact on quality of life. Chronic pain is particularly difficult to diagnose and treat because it is reliant on the patient being able to communicate their symptoms adequately and accurately to health professionals who in turn must be willing to listen and able to interpret these symptoms.   While standard diagnostic tools rely on language to describe pain, there is widespread recognition that this is not always sufficient.  The difficulties in translating pain into language exist in sufferers’ everyday lives as well, where family and friends misunderstand the experience of living with chronic pain.  This project explores the gap between the experience and expression of chronic pain by examining non-verbal aspects of the pain experience: through body mapping; sound; spatial elements; social media; and technology.

The project involves three phases: an analysis of existing textual and non-textual pain expressions online, via social media sites including YouTube, Flickr, and Tumblr; a series of five workshops involving chronic pain patients, visual and performing artists, and clinicians working with chronic pain; and an evaluation phase where we look at the relative success of various non-verbal modes of pain communication, and what aspects of the experience of pain they make visible.

Dr Jen Tarr is Assistant Professor of Research Methodology in LSE’s Department of Methodology, and Principal Investigator on the Communicating Chronic Pain project.  She has previously researched dancers’ experiences of pain and injury and the distinction between the two, using 3D body mapping (www.danceinjuries.org).

Dr. Elena Gonzalez-Polledo is LSE Fellow in LSE’s Department of Methodology. She has worked on the implications of models in practice in transitioning and in economic and industrial development. She is particularly interested in intersections between bodies, disciplines, methods, technologies and experience.

Dr Aude Bicquelet is LSE Fellow in LSE’s Department of Methodology. Her main research interests include computer-assisted analysis, qualitative research methods and public policy. She has published a number of journal  articles in these areas and has worked as a data consultant on various  occasions (i.e. for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence).

Dr Flora Cornish is Associate Professor in the Department of Methodology at the LSE. Her research examines the role of community mobilisation and collective action in improving public health. She has a particular interest in the uses of evidence, and the role of qualitative research in informing policy and practice.

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