{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T22:56:16Z","timestamp":1781564176038,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,5]],"date-time":"2025-02-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738713600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pain Res."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Building flexibility into the research design of a study allows for responsiveness to the embodied and fluctuating nature of participants\u2019 chronic illnesses, which may be shaped, for instance, by flare-ups and periods of remission of acute pain. Whilst the methodology literature has, to some extent, considered how to accommodate the pain of research participants when designing a study, consideration of how methodological choices are responsive to the researcher's pain needs has not to date been foregrounded. From the perspective of a researcher with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by chronic pain, and Crohn's disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease, characterized by stomach and joint pain, this paper provides insight into pain and researcher-participant relationships, from the perspective of a researcher in pain, designing a study to accommodate her own pain needs, as well as anticipating the needs of prospective participants in pain. This paper proposes the use of flexible, remote, and asynchronous research methods as ways to make studies inclusive for researchers living with pain, whilst fostering the most fruitful research relationships with participants who also live with pain, thereby moving towards a position of shared vulnerability. It also highlights the relative absence of the researcher's needs and possible vulnerability in ethics forms and considered by research ethics committees, in comparison to the needs and vulnerability of participants.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpain.2024.1450667","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,5]],"date-time":"2025-02-05T07:35:51Z","timestamp":1738740951000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Towards painless and productive research relationships: reflections on study design by a researcher with chronic pain for participants with chronic pain"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Catherine","family":"Wilkinson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"327","DOI":"10.1080\/14733280802184047","article-title":"\u201cIt\u2019s well good sitting in the storecupboard just talking about what we do\u201d: considering the spaces\/places of research within children\u2019s geographies","volume":"6","author":"Jones","year":"2008","journal-title":"Child Geogr"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"318","DOI":"10.1177\/160940691401300115","article-title":"So you really want to interview me?: navigating \u201csensitive\u201d qualitative research interviewing","volume":"13","author":"Brayda","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int J Qual Methods"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.33392\/diam.1942","article-title":"Beyond the participant-researcher division: co-creating ethical relationships through care and rapport in studies of post-laryngectomy communication","volume":"21","author":"Komorowska-Mach","year":"2024","journal-title":"Diametros"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"341","DOI":"10.1080\/14780887.2011.647261","article-title":"\u201cWe are alone in the house\u201d: a case study addressing researcher safety and risk","volume":"10","author":"Parker","year":"2013","journal-title":"Qual Res Psychol"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"114101","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2021.114101","article-title":"Emotional distress among frontline research staff","volume":"281","author":"Nguyen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Soc Sci Med"},{"key":"B6","article-title":"What is IBD?","year":"2023"},{"key":"B7","article-title":"Understanding Crohn\u2019s and Colitis","year":"2023"},{"key":"B8","article-title":"Children and Young People with IBD: A guide for schools","year":"2017"},{"key":"B9","first-page":"231","article-title":"The place of emotions in research: from partitioning emotion and reason to the emotional dynamics of research relationships","volume-title":"Emotional Geographies","author":"Bondi","year":"2005"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/03057925.2022.2116929","article-title":"Reimagining the researcher-participant ethics relationship: a participant-centred, values-based ethics approach in comparative and international education","volume":"54","author":"Oyinloye","year":"2023","journal-title":"Compare"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"667","DOI":"10.1177\/1468794119884805","article-title":"The qualitative researcher: the flip side of the research encounter with vulnerable people","volume":"20","author":"Bashir","year":"2020","journal-title":"Qual Res"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/14733285.2023.2227598","article-title":"The role of positionality in research \u201cgone wrong\u201d: critical reflections on research involving young people","volume":"22","author":"Wilkinson","year":"2023","journal-title":"Child Geogr"},{"key":"B13","first-page":"117","article-title":"Semi-structured interviews and focus groups","volume-title":"Key Methods in Geography","author":"Longhurst","year":"2003"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.3224\/feminapolitica.v30i1.07","article-title":"Producing knowledge with care. 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