Generative AI,
Pain, & Health Behaviors
Active Project - External Grant Funded

HEAL’s expanding research program recognizes that the digital landscape is rapidly reshaping how individuals understand, interpret, and manage their health. As generative AI (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT become increasingly integrated into everyday life, they are transforming the ways people seek pain-related information, form health beliefs, and make decisions about care. Yet, despite chronic pain affecting over 50 million Americans, empirical research has not kept pace with these technological shifts. Little is known about how individuals with chronic pain engage with GenAI, how these interactions influence their pain beliefs and motivations, or how GenAI may either support or complicate their health behaviors. Given the long-standing inequities in pain care and barriers faced by marginalized communities, understanding GenAI’s role in shaping the pain experience is both urgent and essential. 

Drawing on the theoretical foundations of the Health Belief Model and the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills framework, this project examines the nuanced pathways through which GenAI-derived information may shape perceptions of pain severity, susceptibility, self-efficacy, and care-seeking. Using a mixed-methods design that integrates national cloud-based sampling with in-depth qualitative interviews, the study investigates the complex relationships among digital literacy, pain-related cognitions, coping behaviors, help-seeking, and key health outcomes such as pain severity, disability, and psychological well-being. 

Beyond identifying potential risks, including misinformation, increased anxiety, or misguided self-diagnosis, the project also highlights opportunities for support. GenAI may serve as an accessible, relational, and low-barrier health ally for individuals who face structural or interpersonal barriers to effective pain care. By illuminating both helpful and harmful pathways, this research aims to inform more ethical, equitable, and patient-centered models of digital health use within chronic pain contexts.

Ultimately, these insights provide critical groundwork for developing guidelines, clinical recommendations, and policy initiatives that promote safe and effective integration of GenAI into pain care, especially for communities already navigating disparities in access, communication, and treatment. This project represents a crucial step toward understanding how emerging technologies intersect with the lived experiences of pain, shaping the future of health information seeking and whole-person pain management.

Future Direction: 

Next phases of this research will examine how chronic pain intersects with race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic factors to shape individuals’ engagement with GenAI and their vulnerability to digital health disparities. These insights will inform the development of inclusive policies, digital literacy interventions, patient-centered clinical guidelines, and ethical design features for AI health tools. Ultimately, this work advances HEAL’s broader mission to understand and address the layered contextual, psychological, and structural forces that shape health, and to ensure that emerging technologies promote equity rather than exacerbate disparities.