Journal of health psychology
-
Nurses, nurse's aides, and physicians were presented with vignettes describing elderly patients and were asked to assess their level of pain from four external cues (facial expression, verbalizations, avoidance of movements and positions, and interpersonal contact) in three conditions: when the illness was not known, when it was known to be arthritis, and when it was known to be cancer. For all health caregivers, the most important cue for judging pain was patients' facial expression. When the nature of the illness was not known, the impact of this cue was stronger than when the nature of the illness was known.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Clown intervention to reduce preoperative anxiety in children and parents: a randomized controlled trial.
This study investigated whether a clown doctor intervention could reduce preoperative anxiety in children hospitalized for minor surgery and in their parents. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 77 children and 119 parents: the clown group consisted of 52 children accompanied in the preoperating room by their parents (n = 89) and two clowns while the comparison group consisted of children accompanied by the parents only. The clown intervention significantly reduced the children's preoperative anxiety: children benefited from the clown's presence and showed better adjustment than children in the comparison group. Mothers in Comparison Group showed higher anxiety.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Massage on experimental pain in healthy females: a randomized controlled trial.
This randomized controlled study evaluated the effect of massage on affect, relaxation, and experimental pain induced by electrical stimulation. Participants were 96 healthy women (M age = 20.13 ± 5.93 years; 84.4% White) randomly assigned to a 15-minute no-treatment control, guided imagery, massage or massage plus guided imagery condition. ⋯ The two massage conditions generally reported decreased pain unpleasantness, lower unpleasant affect, maintenance of pleasant affect, and increased relaxation compared to the no-treatment condition. The results suggest that massage may alter immediate affective qualities in the context of pain.
-
Patient and public involvement in health research, including mental health research, is promoted by research funders in England. However, it is poorly conceptualised. ⋯ More strongly, it can be argued that changing the knowledge producers will change knowledge itself. Starting with feminist standpoint epistemology, it is argued that a political conceptualisation best captures the new knowledge that marginalised health groups can produce.
-
Millions of people worldwide use over-the-counter analgesics on a regular basis; yet little is known about how decisions to self-medicate are made. This study used the theory of planned behavior to explore the influence of beliefs about medicines (Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire) and individual pain experience as predictors of intent to self-medicate. ⋯ Furthermore, intent to self-medicate significantly predicted reported use of analgesics. These findings indicate that use of over-the-counter pain medication is more likely when the value of the pain relief is greater than concerns about harm.