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Are you in pain if you say you are not? Accounts of pain in Somali-Canadian women with female genital cutting (FGC).
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
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2021 (English)In: Pain, ISSN 0304-3959, E-ISSN 1872-6623, Vol. 162, no 4, p. 1144-1152Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

As a rite of passage to womanhood, 2 million girls undergo female genital circumcision (FGC)-the tradition of cutting, and often removing parts of the vulva-every year. The current study is the first to focus on the connection between peripheral nerve damage and chronic neuropathic pain in women with FGC. We used mixed methods-quantitative, qualitative, and physiological-to study chronic pain in Somali-Canadian women (N = 14). These women have the most extensive form of FGC, which includes removal of the glans clitoris, labia minora, medial portion of the labia majora, and stitching together the remaining parts of the labia majora. Our results indicate a multifaceted pain experience in women with FGC. Although they report good overall health and very low pain levels on the short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, pressure-pain quantitative sensory testing of the vulvar region applied through vulvalgesiometers shows pain thresholds consistent with those reported by women with chronic vulvar pain. Furthermore, qualitative interviews reveal a considerable amount of often debilitating pain in daily life. These results challenge the use of assessment tools offering elicited verbal pain language and highlight the importance of culturally sensitive ways of conceptualizing, measuring, and managing pain.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS , 2021. Vol. 162, no 4, p. 1144-1152
Keywords [en]
Neuropathic pain; Chronic pain; Vulvodynia; Female genital cutting; circumcision; mutilation
National Category
Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-176335DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002121ISI: 000656633100016PubMedID: 33105438OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-176335DiVA, id: diva2:1563309
Note

Funding: University of Toronto FellowshipUniversity of Toronto; Ontario Graduate ScholarshipOntario Graduate Scholarship; Carol Mitchell and Richard Venn Fellowship in Womens Mental Health; Social Sciences and Humanities Research CouncilSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC); Institute of Gender and Health, Canadian Institutes of Health ResearchCanadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Womens Brain Health and Aging through the Womens Brain Health Initiative

Available from: 2021-06-09 Created: 2021-06-09 Last updated: 2025-02-20Bibliographically approved

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Einstein, Gillian

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