Our Impact
World-leading contributions to pediatric pain research
The Chambers Lab has played a key role in advancing research, changing practice and putting children’s pain on the agenda as a priority issue in Canada and globally.
A Viral Video
It Doesn’t Have to Hurt began in 2013 with a video of a young child sharing strategies for parents on how to manage their pain from needles.
With support from the MayDay Pain & Society Fellowship and funding from the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, the video went viral reaching hundreds of thousands of views globally.
It Doesn’t Have to Hurt Initiative
It Doesn’t Have to Hurt expanded into an innovative online campaign to mobilize research evidence about children’s pain through social media, blog posts, videos, and more.
It started out as a 12-month a science-media partnership with Erica Ehm’s Yummy Mummy Club, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, IWK Health, and others, and was extended due to its huge success.
Reach, Media, & Awards
Reaching 150+ million people in just its first 2 years, It Doesn’t Have to Hurt was featured in the New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and CBC’s The National.
It also received prestigious awards from the scientific and publishing fields, including the Canadian Pain Society’s Pain Awareness Award & the Canadian Online Publishers’ Best Online Campaign award.
Family Factors in Children’s Pain
Putting Research into Practice
It Doesn’t Have to Hurt revealed a need for more research to be put into practice.
The solution? A national network to improve children’s pain management by mobilizing evidence-based solutions through coordination and collaboration.
Game-Changing Solutions
SKIP was launched in 2019 in partnership with Children’s Healthcare Canada, with 100+ supporting organizations, guided by patients, and funded by a knowledge mobilization grant from the Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada.
In 2024, SKIP became a Dalhousie Research Centre.
“We finally started taking needle pain and the fear of needles (trypanophobia) seriously thanks to online initiatives such as #ItDoesntHaveToHurt, a social-media campaign to reduce vaccine pain and fear in kids that has gone viral.”
- André Picard, health reporter, The Globe and Mail