Psychology

Compared to racism and sexism, classism in pain assessment and management practices (PAMP) has been less investigated and its mediating mechanisms are still unknown. Drawing upon a social psychological model of dehumanization, this research aimed to test: (1) the effect of patient socioeconomic status (SES; a proxy of social class) on PAMP and (2) whether patient dehumanization and perceived life hardship mediated these effects. Two online experimental studies were conducted, in which patient SES was manipulated (Low vs. High) within-subjects. One-hundred sixty-two female medical students (study 1) and 105 female nurses (study 2) were presented with vignettes/pictures depicting two cases of women with chronic low-back pain, followed by videos of them performing a pain-inducing movement. Participants reported on patient dehumanization, perceived life hardship and PAMP. The Low SES patient was perceived as less pain sensitive (medical students only) but more disabled, credible and her pain more attributed to psychological causes (by nurses only). Medical students recommended less non-pharmacological treatments but prescribed slightly stronger medication. Medical students were less willing to provide individualized care to the Low SES patient, whereas nurses showed the opposite pattern. Patient mechanistic dehumanization mediated SES effects on pain disability (medical students only). Perceived life hardship mediated SES effects on pain disability, credibility (nurses only) and intentions of providing individualized care (nurses only). These finding bear novel contributions to the fields of pain, health service research and social psychology, and have important implications to the development of more effective future interventions to reduce classism in PAMP.

chronic pain, a common complaint among older adults, affects physical and mental well-being. While opioid use for pain management has increased over the years, pain management in older adults remains challenging, due to potential severe adverse effects of opioids in this population.

Cognitive impairment and chronic pain are amongst the most prevalent neurological sequelae of HIV infection, yet little is understood about the potential bidirectional relationship between the two conditions. Cognitive dysfunction can occur in chronic pain populations whilst those with cognitive impairment can display modified responses to experimentally induced painful stimuli. To date, this has not been explored in HIV cohorts.This study aimed to identify any contribution of chronic pain to cognitive impairment in HIV and to determine differences in pain characteristics between those with and without cognitive dysfunction.This was an observational cohort study involving people living with HIV ( = 148) in the United Kingdom. Participants underwent validated questionnaire-based measurement of pain severity, interference and symptom quality as well as conditioned pain modulation and quantitative sensory testing. All participants completed a computer-based cognitive function assessment.Fifty-seven participants met the criteria for cognitive impairment and 73 for chronic pain. The cognitive impairment group had a higher prevalence of chronic pain ( = 0.004) and reported more neuropathic symptoms ( = 0.001). Those with chronic pain performed less well in emotional recognition and verbal learning domains. The interaction identified between chronic pain and cognitive dysfunction warrants further exploration to identify causal links or shared pathology.

The opioid crisis creates challenges for cancer pain management. Acupuncture confers clinical benefits for chronic nonmalignant pain, but its effectiveness in cancer survivors remains uncertain.

The presence or absence of clearly defined symptoms and underlying pathophysiology may be a crucial variable related to variability in wellbeing and stigmatization in individuals with chronic pain (ICPs). In the context of pain, absence of clearly defined symptoms and pathophysiology deviates from the widely endorsed biomedical model and as such, may lead to stigmatization, which in turn could be related to ICPs' wellbeing.

Pain catastrophizing and pain acceptance are psychological factors that have been shown to be associated with pain-related outcomes and predict multidisciplinary pain treatment outcomes. However, they are rarely examined in the same study. This study aimed to: (a) assess the independent roles of pain catastrophizing and pain acceptance as predictors of pain intensity, pain interference, and depression; and (b) evaluate the potential moderating role of pain acceptance on the association between pain catastrophizing and both pain and function.

Chronic pain is a prevalent and disabling condition. Reboot Online was developed as a multidisciplinary and widely accessible online treatment program for chronic pain. It has been shown to be effective in clinical trials, but the effectiveness of this program in routine care settings remains unknown. This study aimed to examine program adherence and effectiveness in a real-world sample of participants completing Reboot Online in the community.

Emotions are involved in the identification of safety cues in the environment, and are also related to social interaction through recognition of emotional facial expressions. Heart rate variability (HRV) can be an indicator of the adaptive response of the autonomic nervous system to stressful conditions, including pain. This study aimed to investigate the emotional processing in a sample of patients with chronic musculoskeletal by measuring the resting-state HRV and the ability to recognize facial emotion expressions.

Excessive pain during medical procedures is a pervasive health challenge. This study tested the (additive) analgesic efficacy of combining hypnotic analgesia and virtual reality (VR) pain distraction. A single blind, randomized, and controlled trial was used to study 205 undergraduate volunteers aged 18 to 20. The individual and combined effects of hypnotic analgesia (H) and VR distraction on experimentally induced acute thermal pain were examined using a 2 X 2, between-groups parallel design (4 groups total). Participants in groups that received hypnosis remained hypnotized during the test phase pain stimulus. The main outcome measure was "worst pain" ratings. Hypnosis reduced acute pain even for people who scored low on hypnotizability. As predicted, H+ VR was significantly more effective than VR distraction alone. However, H+ VR was not significantly more effective than hypnotic analgesia alone. Being hypnotized during thermal pain enhanced VR distraction analgesia.