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A series of digital videos aimed at curbing opioid addiction has received a $1.4 million research grant.
It was one of 12 projects from the University of Otago that received funding from the Health Research Council, which totalled $3.1m.
Lead researcher Dr Hemakumar Devan said the project would share personal stories from Māori patients who had struggled to taper off prescription opioids.
He called the project a "whanau-focused opioid tapering intervention" for people with chronic pain issues.
"Opioids are a group of medicines commonly used for pain relief," Devan said. Common opioid medications include morphine and fentanyl.
"They are quite effective short-term. However, when used long term - more than six months - their pain-relieving effects wane off," he said. "Instead there is potential for becoming more sensitive to pain and in some, it may lead to dependency and addiction."
About one in every five New Zealanders experienced chronic non-cancer pain - but Māori faced the greatest burden, Devan said.
Māori were at the centre of Devan's research, but he hoped the outcomes would benefit everyone with chronic pain.
"Currently, there is no Aotearoa New Zealand research to understand opioid tapering for chronic non-cancer pain," he said. "This is a complex process, as tapering is associated with withdrawal symptoms and people need ongoing support in their tapering journey."
He hoped the videos would help patients talk with their clinicians, and show them the experiences of people who had been through the process already - including common barriers and enablers that they might encounter.
"Hearing from similar others through their tapering journeys may allow patients to consider opioid tapering for themselves in a way that none of their previous clinical interactions have," Devan said.
