Chronic Pain

Abstract

A common concern of newly resettled refugees is chronic pain, but there is little to guide management of pain. Clinicians currently assess and provide care based on the knowledge and management strategies of chronic pain for the general population. The frequency of chronic pain varies across different refugee populations. Refugees will likely express their symptoms to providers in unfamiliar ways, due to cultural differences and alternate concepts of pain and disease. This chapter reviews the western framework of pain etiology and recommends a model for multicultural communication. Current evidence for pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments for pain is also reviewed.