The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
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Educating the general public about chronic pain and its care is a national health priority. We evaluated knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs (KAB) of a 5-state, population-based sample of Hispanic individuals aged 35 to 75 years without chronic pain, representing more than 8.8 million persons. A Web-based survey assessed KAB using an adapted version of the Survey of Pain Attitudes-Brief and self-reported knowledge about chronic pain (nothing, a little, a lot). In unweighted analyses of participants (N = 349), the mean age was 52.0 (±10.6) years, 54% were women, 53% preferred Spanish, and 39% did not graduate from high school. More participants reported knowing nothing about chronic pain (24%) than a lot (12%). In weighted logistic models with knowing nothing as the reference, knowing a lot was associated with greater KAB for chronic pain-related emotions, functioning, and cure (all P < .01) but poorer KAB about pain medications (P < .001). Associations were similar for those knowing a little. Men and women preferring Spanish had poorer KAB about pain medications than men preferring English (both P < .001). In view of Hispanic individuals' disparities in chronic pain care, these data underscore the need for effective public educational campaigns about chronic pain. ⋯ In this 5-state representative sample of Hispanic individuals without chronic pain, one-quarter reported knowing nothing about chronic pain and had poorer KAB about multiple aspects of this disease. This study reinforces the need to evaluate and address gaps in the general public's knowledge about chronic pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Trajectory of Improvement in Children and Adolescents with Chronic Migraine: Results from the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Amitriptyline Trial.
We compared headache frequency trajectories between clinical trial participants who received cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and amitriptyline (CBT+A) or headache education (HE) and amitriptyline (HE+A) to determine if there was a differential time course of treatment response between the groups. One hundred thirty-five patients (age 10-17 years) diagnosed with chronic migraine participated, attending 8 one-hour one-on-one CBT or HE sessions with a trained psychologist for 8 weekly sessions, 2 sessions at weeks 12 and 16, and a post-treatment visit at week 20. Participants kept daily headache diaries and completed take-home assignments between visits. ⋯ The CBT+A group had greater daily improvement than the HE+A group. A significantly greater proportion of the CBT+A group had a ≥50% reduction in headache days each month, and a significantly greater proportion of the CBT+A group had ≤4 headache days per month in months 3 through 5. Results indicate the trajectory of decrease in headache days is significantly better for patients receiving CBT+A versus HE+A.
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The current study sets forth to provide descriptive data for preschool vaccination pain responding as well as examine longitudinal relationships over early childhood. Growth mixture modeling was first used to describe stable subgroups of preschoolers on the basis of their pain response patterns over 2-minutes post-needle. Secondly, a parallel-process growth curve model was used to assess the stability of acute pain responding from 12 months of age to preschool age. ⋯ Growth mixture modeling analyses discerned 3 distinct groups of preschoolers, with an important minority not regulating to low-no pain by 2 minutes post-needle. There were no significant associations between 12-month and preschool pain responding. These results highlight the steep trajectory of development between these different stages of early childhood and the variability of pain responding at the preschool vaccination.
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Seeing one's own body has been reported to have analgesic properties. Analgesia has also been described when seeing an embodied virtual body colocated with the real one. However, there is controversy regarding whether this effect holds true when seeing an illusory-owned body part, such as during the rubber-hand illusion. ⋯ We observed a significantly higher heat pain threshold at colocation than at a 30-cm distance. The analgesic effects of seeing a virtual colocated arm were eliminated by increasing the distance between the real and the virtual arm, which explains why seeing an illusorily owned rubber arm does not consistently result in analgesia. These findings are relevant for the use of virtual reality in pain management.
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Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is based on the psychological flexibility model, which includes a therapeutic process referred to as "self-as-context" (SAC). This study investigates whether ACT is associated with an effect on SAC and whether this effect is linked to treatment outcomes in people with chronic pain. Four hundred twelve adults referred to a pain management center participated in the study. ⋯ Forty-two to 67.5% of participants showed meaningful improvements on each outcome at post-treatment and follow-up. Change in SAC was associated with change in outcomes (β = -.21 to -.31; r = -.16 to -.46). Results support a role for change in SAC in treatment as the psychological flexibility model suggested.