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. 2022 Oct 27;6(1):195-210.
doi: 10.1080/24740527.2022.2123308. eCollection 2022.

Popcorn in the pain clinic: A content analysis of the depiction of patients with chronic pain and their management in motion pictures

Karim Mukhida  1 , Sina Sedighi  2 , Catherine Hart  3
Affiliations

Popcorn in the pain clinic: A content analysis of the depiction of patients with chronic pain and their management in motion pictures

Karim Mukhida et al. Can J Pain. .

Abstract
in English, French

The watching of films is popular and accessible to broad segments of the population. The depiction of medical conditions in films has the potential to affect the public's perception of them and contribute to stereotypes and stigma. We investigated how patients with chronic pain and their management are depicted in feature films. Films that contained characters with or references to chronic pain were searched for using databases such as the International Movie Database. Themes that emerged from the content analysis revolved around the films' depictions of characters with pain, their health care providers, and therapies for pain management. Patients with chronic pain were depicted in various ways, including in manners that could elicit empathy from audiences or that might contribute to the development of negative stereotypes about them. The attitudes of health care professionals toward patients with chronic pain ranged from compassionate to dispassionate. Pain management was typically depicted as lacking in breadth or using multidisciplinary approaches with a focus on pharmacological management. The variety of topics related to chronic pain depicted in feature films lends to their use in medical education strategies to better inform health care professions trainees about chronic pain management.

Le visionnement de films est populaire et accessible à de larges segments de la population. La représentation des affections médicales dans les films est susceptible d'affecter la perception qu'en a le public et de contribuer aux stéréotypes et à la stigmatisation. Nous avons étudié comment les patients souffrant de douleur chronique et leur prise en charge sont représentés dans les longs métrages. Les films qui contenaient des personnages ou des références à la douleur chronique ont été recherchés à l'aide de bases de données telles que l’International Movie Database. Les thèmes qui sont ressortis de l'analyse du contenu tournaient autour des représentations des personnages souffrant de douleur, de leurs prestataires de soins de santé et des traitements pour la prise en charge de la douleur. Les patients souffrant de douleur chronique étaient représentés de diverses manières, y compris de manière à susciter l'empathie du public ou contribuer à l'apparition de stéréotypes négatifs à leur sujet. L'attitude des professionnels de la santé à l'égard des patients souffrant de douleur chronique allait de la compassion à la circonspection. La prise en charge de la douleur était généralement décrite comme manquant d'envergure ou utilisant des approches multidisciplinaires, tout en mettant l’accent sur la prise en charge pharmacologique. La variété des sujets liés à la douleur chronique présentés dans les longs métrages favorise leur utilisation dans les stratégies d'éducation médicale pour mieux informer les professionnels de la santé en formation sur la prise en charge de la douleur chronique.

Keywords: Hollywood; chronic pain; cinemeducation; film.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Article management search process. Adapted from Page and colleagues.
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