CFP: Chronic Pain & Social Justice

Call for Papers: Chronic Pain & Social Justice

A special issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 

Edited by Jada Wiggleton-Little and Daniel Buchman

Chronic pain is a major public health issue. Globally, it is estimated that approximately 20% of adults live with chronic pain, with a debilitating impact on personal relationships, employment, quality of life, and the healthcare system. However, chronic pain can also be considered a social justice issue: populations who are the most disadvantaged in society bear much higher burdens of chronic pain and pain-related sequelae. Access to effective pain management is difficult, especially at the end of life for many in low- and middle-income countries. A long history of medical racism, including perceived biological differences between Blacks and whites, influences the attitudes and practices of pain management today. Given the subjective nature of pain and concerns surrounding the opioid overdose crisis, chronic pain invites questions around trust, stigma, and equity. Although access to pain management has been identified as a human right, inequities in pain acknowledgment and treatment can reflect social stigma and systemic discrimination related to race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, weight, class, and disability.

Recently, researchers have turned to scientific solutions, like AI and pain biomarkers, to mediate the undertreatment of chronic pain with personalized medicine and identify those most at risk for opioid-related issues. Some researchers have also suggested that objective pain biomarkers can address inequities in pain acknowledgment by acting as a complement to patients’ pain reports, especially for reports by patients who would otherwise be doubted or dismissed. A patient’s pain report is the current gold standard for assessing pain. However, within a medical culture that privileges the objective over the subjective, and the visible over invisible, appeals to pain biomarkers risks inflicting the same harm and epistemic injustice healthcare professionals are hoping to alleviate. 

This special issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal invites articles between 5,000 and 10,000 words that engage with ethical and social justice issues surrounding chronic pain management. These topics include, but are not limited to

·      Stigma of chronic pain

·      Chronic pain and epistemic injustice

·      Chronic pain and the opioid overdose/drug toxicity crisis

·      Chronic pain as a public health issue

·      Chronic pain and disability

·      Chronic pain and systemic racism

·      Gender disparities in pain management

·      Intersectional identities and chronic pain

·      AI as a pain diagnostic tool

·      Objective measures of chronic pain

·      Chronic pain and narrative ethics

Deadline for submissions: April 30, 2025, with the goal of publication in our September 2025 issue. 

Please use the regular Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal submission system, at https://kiej.georgetown.edu/submit/ Please note in your cover letter that the submission is for the special issue on chronic pain and social justice. Inquiries about the issue may be directed to Jada Wiggleton-Little, at [email protected].