Research on pain in Residential Long-Term Care Homes

Join us on the 7 October for a GOLTC Pain in Care homes Interest Group webinar

Date: Tuesday 07 October 2025

Time: 1:30 to  2.30 pm BST, you can check your local time here.

Link: Register to join on Zoom

Pain is connected with emotional, cognitive, and behavioural disorders as well as functional issues. Moreover, chronic pain increases suffering, disability and social isolation which impacts negatively upon a person’s emotional, psychological, emotional and social wellbeing and consequently leads to a reduced quality of life and more years spent living with disability.  People living in long-term care facilities are often living with dementia or cognitive impairment, frailty and multiple comorbid conditions and can  experience complex forms of pain. As a consequence, long-term care facility residents are likely to experience issues with mental capacity and communication which can impact on their ability to articulate their pain and how this impacts upon them this has a significant impact on all aspects of their life and well-being. A person living with dementia may exhibit distressed behaviours as a result of experiencing pain and all too often this is considered indicative of a symptom of dementia as opposed to a manifestiation of unmanaged pain. Therefore, focusing on improving the identification, assessment and management of pain in residents living in long-term care is of the utmost importance.

Agenda:

• Introduction to the Global Observatory of Long-Term care and welcome (Adelina Comas-Herrera, Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, LSE, UK).
• Introduction to the GOLTC Interest Group on Pain in Care homes (Manuela Hoedl, Medical University of Graz and Prof. Sandra Zwakhalen, Maastricht University)
• Neurocognitive functioning and the association with experimental pain and pain experiences in older people (Prof. J.M. Oosterman, Radboud University NL)
• What supports effective care home research: recommendations from the DACHA study (Prof. Claire Goodman, University of Hertfordshire, UK)
• Discussion:
  • Ideas/ further plans for improving pain research in care homes?
  • Discussion about the Interest Group’s next steps

Relevant publications:

• Allan S, Rand S, Towers AM, De Corte K, Tracey F, Crellin E, Lloyd T, Carroll RE, Palmer S, Webster L, Gordon A, Smith N, Akdur G, Killett A, Spilsbury K, Goodman C. Construct validity of measures of care home resident quality of life: cross-sectional analysis using data from a pilot minimum data set in England. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2025 Apr 5;23(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12955-025-02356-0. PMID: 40188343; PMCID: PMC11972536.
• Killett A, Micklewright K, Carroll R, Akdur G, Allinson E, Crellin L, de Corte K, Fox M, Hanratty B, Irvine L, Jones L, Kelly M, Lloyd T, Meyer J, Spilsbury K, Towers AM, Tracey F, Willmott J, Goodman C. Public Involvement to Enhance Care Home Research; Collaboration on a Minimum Data Set for Care Homes. Health Expect. 2025 Feb;28(1):e70140. doi: 10.1111/hex.70140. PMID: 39806859; PMCID: PMC11729378.
• Peryer G, Kelly S, Blake J, Burton JK, Irvine L, Cowan A, Akdur G, Killett A, Brand SL, Musa MK, Meyer J, Gordon AL, Goodman C. Contextual factors influencing complex intervention research processes in care homes: a systematic review and framework synthesis. Age Ageing. 2022 Mar 1;51(3):afac014. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afac014. PMID: 35231097; PMCID: PMC8887840.
• Jansen MG, Oosterman JM, Folkerts AK, Chakraverty D, Kessels RPC, Kalbe E, Roheger M. Classification Of MeMory InTerventions: Rationale and developmental process of the COMMIT tool. Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2024 Jun;34(5):679-700. doi: 10.1080/09602011.2023.2236346. Epub 2023 Jul 31. PMID: 37523444.