# “This Is My Future?”: Understanding the Lives of Emerging Adult Women Living with Chronic Pain Through a Narrative Inquiry

## TL;DR

This study explores how chronic pain affects young women in Canada, highlighting how societal stereotypes and dismissal impact their experiences and treatment.

## Contribution

The study provides new qualitative insights into the unique experiences of emerging adult women with chronic pain, emphasizing the role of societal narratives.

## Key findings

- Participants described being silenced and dismissed in healthcare settings due to their age and gender.
- Two key narrative themes emerged: invisibility of pain and resistance to singular, stereotypical stories about chronic pain.
- The study highlights the need to improve treatment and understanding of chronic pain in young women.

## Abstract

Chronic pain disproportionately affects women yet is often underestimated by medical professionals. In Canada, chronic pain rates have risen significantly, particularly among those aged 20 to 29 without other health conditions. However, limited qualitative research focuses on chronic pain exclusively in women under 30. By focusing on gender, this narrative inquiry study examined how societal narratives and stereotypes uniquely affect emerging adult women’s experiences of chronic pain, contributing to their dismissal and invisibility in both personal and institutional contexts. Two key narrative threads were co-created with participants through analysis of their stories: silenced, invisible, and locating self with pain, and resisting singular stories of people living with chronic pain. Participants’ shared family narratives of dismissal, stories of being silenced in health care, and dominant narratives in the context of age and gender that shaped the participants’ stories to live by. This study demonstrates the importance of recognizing people in the midst of living with chronic pain. Understanding unique pain experiences during emerging adulthood can improve treatment options and long-term outcomes for this demographic.