Cancer-related pain is among the most common symptoms reported by cancer survivors, with prevalence ranging from 35-55%. As cancer screening and treatment modalities continue to improve, the number of aging cancer survivors will continue to grow. Thus, cancer pain prevalence is also expected to increase, and will impart a significant public health burden in the coming years. Pain can negatively affect survivors’ physical and cognitive function, treatment adherence, and cancer outcomes.

Furthermore, cancer pain is consistently associated with measures of depression, anger, and distress, and contributes largely to social isolation. Recent work in supportive care research recognizes the complexity of the cancer pain experience, namely the multiple contributing factors spanning from biological to sociological, the impact of the opioid epidemic on patient and provider attitudes and behaviors, and the added nuance from comorbidities, expectancy, and psychosomatics.

Cancer-related pain is multifaceted and highly individual. Different pathologies and treatment regimens may cause different types of pain, and pain perception can vary widely. Although much of the cancer-related pain research has focused on treatment modalities, the focus on psychosocial drivers and outcomes of pain as a symptom is gaining momentum. The pain experience both influences and is influenced by psychosocial factors such as mental health, values and beliefs, self-efficacy, resilience, social support, socioeconomic status, discrimination, and identity.

Understanding these factors, how to assess for them, and how to integrate them into care can help us design more personalized interventions and mitigate common issues such as undertreatment. This Research Topic aims to contribute to that body of knowledge by presenting a portfolio of research on the psychosocial drivers and outcomes of cancer-related pain.

This Research Topic welcomes high-quality articles on original research (clinical, preclinical, or translational), systematic reviews, methods, policy and practice reviews, and clinical trials that focus on the psychosocial drivers or psychosocial outcomes of cancer-related pain. The pain focus may be on either the tumor/pathology or cancer treatments.

Themes to consider include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Applied psychology on the topic of pain perception/experience, catastrophizing;
• Screening/instruments;
• Interventions for psychosocial targets;
• Pain from a socio-ecological model;
• Impact of pain on interpersonal relationships (including with health professionals);
• Decision making;
• Interaction with comorbid conditions;
• Pain disparities and discrimination;
• Impact of past experience on pain-related behaviors;
• Care delivery/implementation science of pain interventions in oncology settings.

Submit your idea

Impact

Frontiers in Psychology

Submit your idea

Impact