Creating HOPE: The Development of the HIV, Opioids and Pain Experience (HOPE) Screening Tool

Background: People living with HIV (PLWH) are more likely to experience chronic pain, trauma, and analgesic use than their HIV-negative counterparts. This complex chronic pain profile can have subsequent physical, mental, and psychological sequela. Despite this, a tool to rapidly screen at risk patients and refer to specialized care has not been established. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify current screening tools for chronic pain, trauma, and opioid use to guide design of our comprehensive HOPE (HIV, Opioids and Pain Experience) screening tool. Methods: A systematic search was conducted using a combination of controlled vocabulary and natural language keywords across four electronic databases to identify relevant peer-reviewed studies. Data extraction from eligible studies was then performed to summarize and organize findings according to the topic of the outcome measurement tool. Results: A total of 10,573 abstracts were identified, 1,167 full-text articles reviewed, and 39 included for final data extraction. Among these articles, 31 screeners were identified for pain assessment, 8 for detecting opioid misuse, and 7 for trauma evaluation. Discussion and conclusions: This study revealed tools for screening of chronic pain, trauma and opioid use described in the literature that can be used in the creation of an innovative screening tool for all the above in an HIV clinical context. All extracted tools demonstrated good validity and reliability, indicating their potential for inclusion in the development of a multidimensional screener for complex chronic pain among PLWH.