Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Comparative Study
Ethnicity, control appraisal, coping, and adjustment to chronic pain among black and white Americans.
To identify similarities and differences among non-Hispanic black and white patients in pain appraisal, beliefs about pain, and ways of coping with pain. We also examined the association between these factors (i.e., appraisals, beliefs, coping) and patient perception or subjective experience of their functioning in each ethnic group. ⋯ The current findings suggest similarities as well as differences between non-Hispanic black and white patients in the ways they view and cope with pain. However, the association between psychological factors (attitudes and beliefs, coping responses) and adjustment to chronic pain was comparable for both ethnic groups. If replicated, the findings suggest that specific tailoring of cognitive behavioral therapies to different racial/ethnic groups may not be needed to maximize treatment outcome.
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Research on disparities in the treatment of pain has shown that minorities receive less aggressive pain management than non-minorities. While reasons include physician bias, the focus of this study was to examine whether differences in pain reporting behavior might occur when pain is reported to individuals of a different race or gender. ⋯ Racial and gender concordance did not influence pain reporting; however, pain reporting was influenced by interactions between gender and race in the subject-experimenter dyads.
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Comparative Study
Comparing the experiential and psychosocial dimensions of chronic pain in african americans and Caucasians: findings from a national community sample.
To ascertain whether non-Hispanic African American and Caucasian chronic pain sufferers differ or converge in their self-reports of pain experience and pain adjustment. ⋯ Psychosocial dimensions of chronic pain differed between community-residing African American and Caucasian adults surveyed as part of a national sample.
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Comparative Study
Ethnic similarities and differences in the chronic pain experience: a comparison of african american, Hispanic, and white patients.
Ethnic differences in the perception, experience, and impact of pain have received growing attention in recent years. Although studies comparing pain among African Americans, Hispanics, and whites have yielded mixed findings, increasing evidence suggests an enhancement of the pain experience for African American and Hispanic patients. Mechanisms proposed to account for this effect include systematic differences in psychological distress and in pain-coping strategies, or differential relationships between these factors and pain. However, few studies have evaluated all of these variables, or matched ethnic groups precisely on potential confounds. ⋯ These results suggest that ethnic differences in pain, pain-related sequelae, and affective factors may be small when ethnic groups are closely matched on confounding variables. Moreover, interventions designed to facilitate adaptive coping are likely to be effective across ethnic groups.