A conversation on storytelling in chronic pain research and clinical practice

This chapter is presented as an interview between Antonia Liguori and Hemakumar Devan, a health researcher and a physiotherapist with an interest in investigating bio-psychosocial factors underpinning the etiology of chronic pain. Hem (his preferred name) is originally from India and moved to Aotearoa New Zealand to undertake postgraduate study. He then decided to stay in Aotearoa and devote his academic career to exploring new approaches that could foster self-management support and empower people with persistent pain and their whānau (family and significant others). Antonia and Hem have been in touch for several years and have discussed and designed together new ways of adapting digital storytelling as a participatory approach in the context of a new ground-breaking research project led by Hem on behalf of the University of Otago and Māori community partner – Cheryl Davies, funded by the Health Research Council, New Zealand. In particular, Antonia acted as an Advisory Board member for this project and they have explored with the project team how to co-produce a whānau -focused opioid tapering intervention for people with chronic non-cancer pain; and to evaluate the clinical implementation of this storytelling intervention in four tertiary pain services and four primary care practices in Aotearoa.