Prescription Pain Medication Misuse Among Family Caregivers: A Call to Action

There is a high prevalence of physical pain among family caregivers to older adults, and pain is a prominent contributor to caregiving difficulty. Many family caregivers with pain search for strategies to cope with the dual stressors of caregiving and physical pain. We hypothesize that family caregivers may be at increased risk for prescription pain medication use and misuse in ways that lead to both prescription and nonprescription substance abuse. Yet, data sources to study this topic are quite limited, thus the full scope of the topic is undetermined. In this forum article, we advocate for immediate research into family caregivers' prescription pain medication use. To catalyze this research, we theorize why caregivers might be at higher risk for prescription pain medication misuse using existing research and theory, and highlight restrictions and challenges to studying this topic using existing secondary data sources. We conclude by offering future research and clinical recommendations and offer an agenda to advance the state of the science on this topic.