Study: Chronic pain, Fibromyalgia, Chronic pain and experiences of stigma

Do you have a long-term illness with ‘medically unexplained symptoms’?

Such as: chronic pain (including chronic migraines), chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome?

Have you tried to get support from your GP or other health care providers, but you feel ignored?

Or perhaps you feel misunderstood or like you’re not getting enough support?

If this sounds like you, I invite you to contribute to my study. I would be interested in hearing your experiences surrounding your long-term illness and stigma from the healthcare system. This involves you taking part in an interview between 30-60 minutes, depending on how much you have to say. It’s up to you how you would like to do the interview: either face-to-face at Aston University, online via online messaging, or via video call. It’s vital that people’s own experiences are considered when understand long-term illnesses.

By contributing in this study, you could help provide insight into how people with long-term illnesses are treated within the health system and be part of research that could help health providers to rethink their approaches and provide a more positive experience for patients. You will receive 12 credits regardless of interview time.

If you’re interested, please email me and we can discuss options of interviewing, and I will tell you a little more information before you decide whether to take part.

Student: Katie Southan Email: southank@aston.ac.uk