Improving the Management of Chronic Pain in Migrant Workers in Malaysia: A Community-Based Rehabilitation Proposal (CBRP)

Introduction

Globally, chronic pain is a serious and quickly spreading health issue. Population-based studies indicate that 11–30% of the general population experiences chronic pain. These studies defined as pain that lasts longer than three or six months (Blyth et al., 2001; Breivik et al., 2006; Català et al., 2002; Elliott et al., 1999; Rustøen et al., 2004). A study conducted to observe perceived depression, anxiety and stress among chronic pain patients in Malaysia and found that 50.4% of the population had symptoms of anxiety (Ganasegaran, 2019). In Malaysia, chronic pain affects 15.2% of senior people, making it a common health issue (Mohamed Zaki & Hairi, 2014). Another study found that the prevalence of chronic pain in Asian adults ranges between 7.1% in Malaysia to 90.8% in China's geriatric population (Mohamed Zaki & Hairi, 2015).

Migrant workers often feel complain of musculoskeletal disorders (Labao et al., 2018a) and psychosomatic diseases (Mucci et al., 2019). A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate low back pain on migrant workers working at constructions site. The study reveals the prevalence of low back pain and statistically significant risk factors for low back pain (Machado Susseret et al., 2019). A cross-sectional study to observe the pain among Filipino migrant workers in Malaysia were studies and found that 60.0% workers were suffering from (low back pain), followed by 48.3% (upper back pain) and 45% (neck pain) from the last 12 month (Labao et al., 2018b).

There are more than 150 million international migrant workers employed outside of their native country in global arena. International migrant workers have a high risk of work-related illness and injury, yet research and policy often ignore their medical needs. To meet the healthcare needs of this significant working population, governments, policymakers, and businesses must enforce and enhance occupational health and safety regulations. These regulations should be accompanied by readily available, reasonably priced, and suitable health care and insurance coverage (Hargreaves et al., 2019a).There is a need to identify new alternative treatment or evidence based medicine that can reduce the cost of chronic pain among migrant workers.

Conceptual Study Design

The study will consist of five stages 1) Development of Chronic pain herbal database; 2) The Delphi process; 3) Situation Analysis; 4) Development of website; and 5) Program development. Figure 1 stated with the follow diagram of complete study design for research grant. The development of database is proposed to begin on Jan 01, 2023. The development of database and related analysis of study will be a project of one year. The project will include developing the single search string for the most commonly used bibliographic databases. The Delphi technique will start after completing stage one (development of database) from Jan 01, 2024. The stage 3 will begin after Delphi technique to access the situation of chronic pain among migrant worker in Malaysia. The study will contain cross-sectional study and ethnographic study and planned to perform simultaneously with in the period of one year. It is expected to completed before Jan 01, 2026. The last two stages will cover development of website and program development. The study will end before December 31, 2026. Figure 2 gives detail timeline of the study.

Figure 1.

Conceptual study design of the study

Figure 2.

Timeline of study design