Financial Stress

Settling debts and gaining financial relief could be part of a positive cluster that improved pain experience. Zero-hour contracts could allow flexibility around pain while also creating precarious employment and financial instability. Poverty shaped participants' daily decisions and long-term goals. Hyper-responsibility functioned as both survival strategy and social redemption but limited rest and future imagining. Some participants prioritized family members' needs over their own, including HIV-related costs. Financial stress affected participants' school or work identity. Household income and welfare benefit thresholds could limit financial support and self-care time. Assessment and support for chronic pain should include financial strain.