The Clinical journal of pain
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Comparative Study
Neonatal Facial Coding System for assessing postoperative pain in infants: item reduction is valid and feasible.
The objectives of this study were to: (1). evaluate the validity of the Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) for assessment of postoperative pain and (2). explore whether the number of NFCS facial actions could be reduced for assessing postoperative pain. ⋯ This study demonstrates that the NFCS is a reliable, feasible, and valid tool for assessing postoperative pain. The reduction of the NFCS to 5 items increases the specificity for pain assessment without reducing the sensitivity and validity for detecting changes in pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Acupuncture in the management of chronic low back pain: a blinded randomized controlled trial.
To assess the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic low back pain. ⋯ Further research is necessary to fully assess the efficacy of this treatment in combating chronic low back pain using larger sample sizes or alternative control groups.
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Review Comparative Study
Spinal cord stimulation for complex regional pain syndrome: an evidence-based medicine review of the literature.
The purpose of this investigation is to assess the evidence for efficacy of SCS in the management of pain in patients with CRPS. ⋯ Although limited in quality and quantity, available evidence from the examined literature suggests that SCS is effective in the management of pain in patients with CRPS (grade B/C). Clinically useful information extracted from the available studies is very limited in guiding clinicians in the rational use of SCS for pain management in CRPS patients. Future attempts to investigate the efficacy of SCS in CRPS patients should involve methodologically robust designs such as randomized studies that have sufficient power.
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Comparative Study
Caregivers' beliefs regarding pain in children with cognitive impairment: relation between pain sensation and reaction increases with severity of impairment.
To determine whether caregivers of children with cognitive impairment (CI) have systematic beliefs regarding the pain of this special group of children and whether these beliefs are related to their general attitudes towards people with mental challenges, or their experience with, or knowledge about, children with CI . ⋯ Caregivers have a priori beliefs regarding pain in children with CI that vary with level of cognitive impairment and pain facet. These beliefs could impact children's care.
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Because of the importance of pain assessment to understanding the nature and scope of pain problems, and for testing the efficacy of pain treatments, new pain measures are frequently developed. Research that describes the development and evaluation of pain measures should include detailed information concerning the validity and reliability of the measures. However, for the findings from this research to be most useful, the consumers of this research (clinicians and researchers who use pain measures) should understand the concepts of validity and reliability, and the procedures used for evaluating these in pain assessment research. The purpose of this commentary is to provide a summary of these psychometric issues, using the study and findings of Krause and Backonja as an illustrative example of the concepts.