Rute Sampaio is one of the most recent researchers to join CINTESIS – Center for Health Technology and Services Research, in 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, she received the Grünenthal Pain Award, in the Clinical Research category.

“It was a recognition, an important stimulus, but I don’t let myself be dazzled. Alone I am nobody. I have always valued multidisciplinary work, with doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other professionals,” she reacts.

She defines herself as a “transparent and direct, sometimes too direct” person. She is passionate about what she does and a born caretaker. She was born in Massarelos, in Porto, where she studied. “When I was little I wanted to be a tour guide because of languages, the journeys, and the history. I also loved traveling and talking to old people. I was passionate about their life stories. I was certain about one thing: I didn’t want to be a doctor because I’ve always been very sensitive to smells, but I wanted to help everyone,” she recalls.

She graduated in Psychology from the University of Minho in 2001. She embraced Health Psychology, through Teresa McIntyre, her supervisor, and precursor in this area. With João Carlos Winck, she did her internship in Pulmonology at the current University Hospital Center of São João (CHUSJ), where she worked for about a decade, guiding internships and participating in several projects, namely telemedicine, palliative care, health education, and therapeutic adherence. This is the case of an intervention she implemented to promote therapeutic adherence to CPAP in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. She has worked in several clinical settings, giving consultations, as a psychologist, in different cities in the north of the country.

She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minho, in the area of Health Psychology, in 2013. At that time, she had the opportunity to go to another country, but because her daughter was a little child (now 15 years old), she turned it down. She worked in a Private Institution of Social Solidarity with poor families for 9 months, a period she refers to as a “very difficult birth”, but from which she says she learned a lot. She taught Medical students at the University of Minho and in Nursing students, namely in Oliveira de Azeméis, among other institutions.

In 2014, she became a researcher at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), where she also teaches. Her main area of research interest is the development of health interventions for application in people with chronic diseases and, in particular, with chronic pain.

In 2017, she did postgraduate work at Bangor University, King’s College, and in 2018 at Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in the UK.

In 2020, she left i3S and joined CINTESIS as an integrated researcher, where she continues to do research, especially in the area of chronic pain and therapeutic adherence. “I feel an even greater sense of belonging, I feel I belong to the house, and I feel even more responsible,” she says.

And it was as a CINTESIS researcher that she won the Grünenthal PAIN Award, in the Clinical Research category, with an unprecedented study that analyzed non-adherence to treatment by patients with chronic pain, an area in which she has several ongoing projects.

According to this study, non-adherence to therapy is common among chronic pain patients. Just one week after starting treatment, 37% of patients were no longer taking their prescribed medications. After one year, this percentage reached 51%.

The results of this work, published in Patient Preference and Adherence, contradict the idea that the lack of medication adherence occurs only when the disease is symptom-free or that it is mainly due to patients’ forgetfulness. Reasons for non-adherence to therapy in chronic pain include the perception and fear of adverse effects, the perception of lack of efficacy, the idea that medications are not needed, the emergence of a new health problem, or even financial constraints.

“Health professionals think that their patients adhere to treatment, but it’s a fantasy. In reality, that’s not what happens. There are a number of factors that occur during the process of therapeutic adherence, from initiation to persistence in treatment, and forgetfulness, in the case of chronic pain, is not even mentioned. Millions of euros are spent on apps that only serve to remind patients and are no good for nothing else. Millions are spent on new drugs and then only 50% of patients take them! I’m not against technology, quite the contrary, but we need to go further. There is a long way to go in this area,” she stresses.

Rute Sampaio is also the author of articles in leading scientific journals, as well as book and book chapters, with emphasis on the work entitled “Para embalar adultos que dormem como ventilador” (“To rock adults who sleep ventilated”), co-authored with Marta Drummond, published by LIDEL.

1-Year Ambition

I am already working on a project in which we are looking at the variables of the intentionality of therapy adherence, together with King’s College.

A year from now, I want to move forward with the project involving patients over 65 years old with frailty and chronic non-malignant pain, mostly musculoskeletal, from a Pain Unit in Portugal, with an approach based on the “case manager”, a figure that still does not exist in Portugal. The project, in partnership with Porto4Ageing and researchers from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, in Italy, funded by Pfizer, was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and now needs to be put into cruise control.

I also want to move forward with the development of the project for the creation of the Pain Patient Helpline (LADD in Portuguese), which won an award this year at the Yes Meeting – Young European Scientist. In the next phase, the goal is to articulate with specialists in the field of Artificial Intelligence. We have already applied for funding, but we haven’t succeeded yet. I believe that this line would take some weight off the National Health Service. There is some response, but it is not systematized and is given with a lot of effort and even carelessness on the part of professionals.

10-Year Ambition

I will participate in a major European project, o BEAMER – BEhavioral and Adherence Model for improving quality, health outcomes and cost-Effectiveness of healthcaRE, to create a unique model of therapeutic adherence. I want to continue with my students, who always have many interesting ideas for new projects. I would also like to continue teaching therapeutic adherence.

Life Beyond Research

In my spare time, I try to take care of the family. I’m really very caring. This last year was very complicated, personally, and I had to be present in difficult moments. I’m always available and I can’t say no because I’m not okay with myself. I also try to take care of myself. I frequently go for walks with my husband and my dog. We walk for miles talking. It does me a lot of good.