Young people's experiences of persistent musculoskeletal pain, needs, gaps and perceptions about the role of digital technologies to support their co-care: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate young people's experiences of persistent musculoskeletal pain, including care needs and current service gaps as well as perceptions about the role of digital technologies to support their co-care. METHODS: A qualitative study employing two independent data collection modes: in-depth individual semistructured interviews and focus groups. SETTING: Community settings throughout Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were included if they had experienced persistent musculoskeletal pain of >3-month duration with an average of ≥3 on the visual analogue scale over the preceding 3 months, including non-specific conditions (eg, low back pain) and specific conditions (eg, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and other systemic arthritides), with/without pre-existing or current diagnosed mental health conditions. 23 young people (87.0% women; mean (SD) age: 20.8 (2.4) years) from across 6 Australian jurisdictions participated. Almost two-thirds of participants with persistent musculoskeletal pain reported comorbid mental health conditions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Inductive and deductive approaches to analyse and derive key themes from verbatim transcripts. RESULTS: Participants described their daily experiences of living with persistent musculoskeletal pain, their fears and the challenges imposed by the invisibility of pain, and the two-way relationship between their pain and mental well-being. A lack of relevant and accessible information and resources tailored to young people's unique needs, integrated and youth-relevant healthcare services and adequately skilled healthcare practitioners were identified as key care gaps. Participants strongly advocated for the use of digital technologies to improve access to age-appropriate resources and support for co-care. CONCLUSIONS: Young people living with persistent musculoskeletal pain described the absence of age-appropriate pain services and clearly articulated their perceptions on the role of, and opportunities provided by, digital technologies to connect with and support improved pain healthcare. Innovative and digitally-enabled models of pain care are likely to be helpful for this group.