Pain Management Commons^™

Psychometric Properties Of The Centrality Of Pain Scale, Benjamin J. Morasco, Dennis C. Turk, Christina Nicolaidis

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

The Centrality of Pain Scale (COPS) is a recently developed patient-centered, 10-item self-report measure designed to assess how central, or dominating, in their lives individuals with chronic pain perceive pain to be. The COPS underwent initial development and validation previously; preliminary results suggested that the measure had excellent psychometric properties and that COPS scores were associated with important clinical factors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the COPS in a sample of individuals with mixed chronic pain diagnoses (N = 178) being treated at a U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Principal components analysis …

Helping Elders Living With Pain (Help), Suzanne Leveille, Tongjian You

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The HELP study, which is a two-year study supported by a R21 grant from National Institute on Aging, is a direct extension of our previous work examining attentional demands of chronic pain in the older population. The HELP study is designed to compare two different exercise programs - simple body exercise and mind-body exercise, in their effects on pain symptoms, cognitive function, dual-task walking ability, and levels of pain-related biomarkers in community-dwelling older adults with multisite pain who are at risk of falling.

Youth Narratives Of The Conflict In Northern Uganda, Ellen Eichelberger

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Narratives are an essential method of communication that create windows into human experiences. Narratives are also responsible for generating the societies in which they are told, or are shaped indelibly by the societies generated by more powerful narratives. In a post-conflict environment where society has been destroyed by decades of violence, the power of narratives to influence society is heightened. Such a postconflict environment is that of northern Uganda, as it emerges from the violence of the war between the LRA and the UPDF. Due to the heightened powers of narratives, it is necessary to give attention to what those …

Storytelling As Self-Empowerment: A Case Study Of Avega Beneficiaries In Post-Genocide Rwanda, Lauren Garretson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project is an assessment of the effectiveness of storytelling as a mechanism of self-empowerment in the context of post-genocide Rwanda. It concentrates on the effects of the storytelling that is done by female survivors of the 1994 genocide within one Rwandan organization, AVEGA Agahozo.[1] The research project aim is to understand how these women in contemporary Rwanda try to counter their oppression through the stories they tell others about themselves and reclaim agency over their own lives. I examine the possibilities for, and limitations of, storytelling as a means of self-empowerment for these women to counter the unjust …

Ouch, That Hurts: Childbirth-Related Pain Management And The Inappropriate Replacement Of Traditional Obstetrical Knowledge In Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India, Sabrina Zionts

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Throughout India, obstetrical knowledge and practice has been developed and passed down by generations of women. In many Indian societies, traditional birth attendants, or dais, remain the gatekeepers of childbirth-related knowledge. Yet with the push towards institutional delivery, traditional knowledge and practices are being increasingly replaced with modern and Western ones. While the trend of hospital deliveries has yielded positive health outcomes, its socio-cultural consequences remain unclear. Situated in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon Himalayas, this study employs a bio-social framework and begins to reveal these consequences. Using labor pain management as an entry point, this study argues that the push towards institutional …

A Resistance, Remembered? Remembrance, Commemoration And The Parallel System In Prishtina, Kosovo, Conner Gordon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Though the 1999 war that liberated Kosovo from Serbian control is over fifteen years in the past, memories of the 1990s still remain in a state of chaos. This paper approaches the development of these collective memories through interviews with Prishtina residents about the memories and legacy of Ibrahim Rugova’s parallel structures in the 1990s. Though they draw from similar narratives as memories of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s armed resistance, memories of the nonviolent resistance play a vastly different and largely underrepresented role in current Kosovar Albanian public discourse. Through competing deployments of resistance memories, disproportionate memorialization of Kosovo’s violent …

God In Pre- And Post- Genocide Rwanda: Understanding People’S Perspectives, Ben Weinberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

After the slaughter of over a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda in 1994, God remains an important part in the life of many Rwandans. In this study, 11 Rwandans including survivors, perpetrators, and refugees, were interviewed to provide their perceptions of God before and after the genocide. Through the use of these interviews and various studies on evil, coping, and trauma, this research intends to understand both the shift in belief before to after the genocide and the factors that caused the shift to occur. Informant testimony provides evidence of the way that God and Christian theology has …

The Traumatic State Of Psychology: An Investigation Of The Challenges Psychologists Face When Aiming To Help Trauma Survivors In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Rohan Arcot

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project will sought to investigate the difficult role that psychologists play in post-apartheid South Africa, particularly when they are trying to create meaningful change for trauma survivors from the apartheid era. Many survivors found the results of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) unsatisfactory, and thus still suffer from trauma (Kagee, Naidoo, & Van Wyk, 2013). There is a clear need in the present society of South Africa for a system which helps these trauma survivors find reconciliation and make peace with the atrocities of the past. Part of this system is the counseling psychologists that focus on the …

Deconstructing Counselling: The Complexity Of Psychosocial Support Services In Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Emily Luba

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research analyzes the psychosocial social support component of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. The objectives are (1) to define psychosocial support (2) to contextualize what services are being provided in Nakivale (3) to analyze what challenges exist for providing adequate support and (4) to discuss some strategies being employed by refugees and service-providers to combat these difficult circumstances.

56 semi-structured individual and group interviews and 2 focus group discussions were conducted to reach 96 respondents. This total includes Congolese, Rwandan, Burundian, Somali, and Ethiopian male and female refugees and organization representatives from the …

Learning To Combat Chronic Pain: Exploring The Effectiveness Of A Six-Week Patient Psychoeducation Course Teaching Self-Management Of Chronic Pain, Serita Backstrand

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Abstract Chronic pain is a highly prevalent health problem in the U.S. and poses a large economic and temporal cost to the medical system (Institute of Medicine, 2011; Marcus, 2003). Patients with chronic pain typically report a decrease in emotional, social, and economic functioning (Bair et. al, 2009; Breen, 2002; Kang, Backstrand, & Parker, 2013). This study investigated the efficacy of a 6-week evidence-based group psychoeducation course for the self-management of chronic pain. Pre- and post-test measures were utilized to assess results of the course. Data were analyzed using a paired sample t-test in order to explore the relationship and …

Uncovering Meanings Of Death, Trauma, And Loss As Experienced By Hospice Bereavement Coordinators: A Phenomenological Study, Rochelle S. Clarke

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

This study examined the experiences of Hospice Bereavement Coordinators (HBCs) and Hospice Chaplains working with grief narratives from patient-family units exhibiting signs of anticipatory or complicated grief. While a significant amount of research has been conducted on Hospice employees, no qualitative studies have examined the interpretation of meaning from employees whose primary role focused on the psychosocial-spiritual aspects of clients exhibiting anticipatory or complicated grief. The researcher identified shared meaning of death, trauma, and loss from six participants in the context of a high stress and high loss environment. This study‘s findings revealed ten central themes: Death is an earthly …

The Precebo Illusion Of Pain Analgesia Using The Cold Pressor Task, Man Chun Kam

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

Everybody feels physical pain at some time in their life. Although physical pain can protect us from seriously harming ourselves, pain can also be harmful. Studies have revealed that unrelieved pain can have a long lasting harmful effect on both physical and psychological health (Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, 2006). Therefore, pain analgesia has long been an important issue in various fields, such as medical, biological and psychological field. In the current study, pain analgesia was studied through a psychological phenomenon called precebo illusion.

Trauma In Patients With Serious Mental Illness: The Acceptability And Impact Of A Brief Psychoeducational Intervention For Trauma In The General Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Setting, Kevin E. A. Giangrasso

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Prevalence rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMIs) are high, with an estimated 49% to 100% being exposed to potentially traumatic events. The consequences of these disorders are serious and lasting, with PTSD being the costliest of mental health disorders. At the same time, established evidence-based treatments for PTSD are often not feasible in treatment settings utilized by individuals with SMIs, namely the general acute inpatient psychiatric hospital. Psychoeducational approaches have been incorporated as a component of evidence-based interventions for trauma and have been feasibly implemented in the general acute inpatient psychiatric hospital. The …

The Feasibility Of Implementing A Novel Electrical Stimulation Device In The Self-Management Of Hand Burn Pain, Katrina Liddiard

Theses : Honours

Burns are widely acknowledged as one of the most painful injuries experienced, and poorly controlled pain following burn injury has been linked to reduced psychological adjustment, lower quality of life, and increased risk of developing a chronic pain state. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation has been used for pain relief in a range of medical conditions, and may have the potential to reduce pain and analgesic consumption for burns patients. The burn care environment presents unique challenges to the introduction of new interventions, and the feasibility of introducing a novel form of electrical stimulation into this environment has not been tested. …

Engaging Youth In Bullying Prevention Through Community-Based Participatory Research, Jen Gibson, Paul D. Flaspohler, Vanessa Watts

Faculty Scholarship

Few studies that engage youth in community-based participatory research (CBPR) focus on issues of safety/violence, include elementary school-aged youth, or quantitatively assess outcomes of the CBPR process. This article expands understanding of CBPR with youth by describing and evaluating the outcomes of a project that engaged fifth-grade students at 3 schools in bullying-focused CBPR. Results suggest that the project was associated with decreases in fear of bullying and increases in peer and teacher intervention to stop bullying. We conclude with implications for the engagement of elementary school-aged youth in CBPR to address bullying and other youth issues.

School Mental Health Early Interventions And Academic Outcomes For At-Risk High School Students: A Review Of The Research, Aidyn L. Iachini, Elizabeth Levine Brown, Annahita Ball, Jen Gibson, Steven E. Lize

Faculty Scholarship

The current educational policy context in the United States necessitates that school-based programs prioritize students’ academic outcomes. This review examined the quantitative research on school mental health (SMH) early interventions and academic outcomes for at risk high school students. Seven articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. All articles were examined according to study design and demographics, early intervention characteristics, and outcomes. Of the studies included, most were conducted in urban settings, involved the implementation of group-based early intervention strategies, and monitored GPA as a distal academic outcome. Counselors were frequent implementers of these early interventions. A meta-analysis found …

Evaluating An Abbreviated Version Of The Paths Curriculum Implemented By School Mental Health Clinicians, Jen Gibson, Shelby Werner, Andrew Sweeny

Faculty Scholarship

When evidence-based prevention programs are implemented in schools, adaptations are common. It is important to understand which adaptations can be made while maintaining positive outcomes for students. This preliminary study evaluated an abbreviated version of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) Curriculum implemented by school-based mental health clinicians in preschool/kindergarten classrooms. Results suggest that students (N = 80) demonstrated increases in emotional understanding and prosocial behavior. Children with low initial levels of problem behavior demonstrated large and continual increases in prosocial behavior over the entire course of the intervention, whereas children with high initial levels of problem behavior only demonstrated …