Psychology

Although cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective intervention for chronic pain, it is a lengthy treatment typically applied only in specialty care settings. The aim of this project was to collect preliminary effectiveness data for Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (Brief CBT-CP), an abbreviated, modular form of treatment designed for use in primary care.

Children of chronic pain patients run greater risk for developing chronic pain themselves. Exposure to chronic pain of the parent might install cognitive (e.g., pain catastrophizing, interpretation and attentional bias) and affective (e.g., pain anxiety) vulnerability which increase the risk for the development of chronic pain complaints in offspring. This study examines whether pain-free offspring of parents with chronic pain complaints make more health-threatening interpretations and display a stronger pain-related attentional bias compared to the offspring of pain-free parents. We furthermore examined differences between both groups on pain catastrophizing, pain anxiety, and somatic symptoms, and explored the relations between parental pain catastrophizing and aforementioned pain vulnerability measures in offspring.

Chronic pain is a potentially stigmatizing condition. However, stigma has received limited empirical investigation in people with chronic pain. Therefore, we examined the psychometric properties of a self-report questionnaire of stigma in people with chronic pain attending interdisciplinary treatment. Secondarily, we undertook an exploratory examination of the magnitude of change in stigma associated with interdisciplinary treatment in a prospective observational cohort. Participants attending interdisciplinary treatment based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy completed the Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness eight-item version (SSCI-8; previously developed and validated in neurological samples), and measures of perceived injustice, pain acceptance, and standard pain outcomes before (n=300) and after treatment (n=247). A unidimensional factor structure and good internal consistency were found for the SSCI-8. Total SSCI-8 scores were correlated with pain intensity, indices of functioning, and depression in bivariate analyses. Stigma scores were uniquely associated with functioning and depression in multiple regression analyses controlling for demographic factors, pain intensity, pain acceptance, and perceived injustice at baseline. SSCI-8 total scores did not significantly improve following treatment, although an exploratory subscale analysis showed a small improvement on internalized stigma. In contrast, scores on perceived injustice, pain acceptance, and pain outcomes improved significantly. Taken together, these data support the reliability and validity of the SSCI-8 for use in samples with chronic pain. Further research is needed optimise interventions to target stigma at both the individual and societal levels. Perspective: This study supports the use of the SSCI-8 to measure stigma in chronic pain. Stigma is uniquely associated with worse depression and pain-related disability. Research is needed to identify how to best target pain-related stigma from individual and societal perspectives.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; e.g., parental divorce, physical or sexual abuse) are more prevalent in individuals with chronic pain compared to the general population. Both increased maternal ACEs and chronic pain have been associated with poor physical and emotional functioning in offspring. However, the mechanisms driving these associations are poorly understood. Thus, this cross-sectional study evaluated the relation between maternal ACEs, mothers' current functioning, and children's physical and emotional functioning in a sample of mothers with chronic pain and their 8-12 year-old children. Results indicated a higher prevalence of at least 1 ACE in this sample of mothers with chronic pain (84%) compared to normative data from a community sample of women. Higher maternal ACE scores corresponded with lower physical and social functioning, greater anxiety and depressive symptoms, greater fatigue and sleep disturbances, and greater pain intensity and pain interference in mothers. Higher maternal ACE scores significantly correlated with higher child self-reported depressive symptoms, but not somatic symptoms or functional impairment. A path model indicated that maternal depressive symptoms accounted for the relation between higher maternal ACE scores and children's depressive symptoms. Intervening on maternal depression among mothers with chronic pain may reduce the impact of intergenerational ACE transmission. Perspective: This article presents evidence regarding the intergenerational impact of adverse childhood experiences in a large sample of mothers with chronic pain and their school-aged children. Maternal depressive symptoms accounted for the relation between maternal ACEs and children's depressive symptoms providing evidence regarding targets for preventive interventions.

We conducted a randomized controlled trial of an individually tailored, virtual perspective-taking intervention to reduce race and socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in providers' pain treatment decisions. Physician residents and fellows (n = 436) were recruited from across the United States for this two-part online study. Providers first completed a bias assessment task in which they made treatment decisions for virtual patients with chronic pain who varied by race (black/white) and SES (low/high). Providers who demonstrated a treatment bias were randomized to the intervention or control group. The intervention consisted of personalized feedback about their bias, real-time dynamic interactions with virtual patients, and videos depicting how pain impacts the patients' lives. Treatment bias was re-assessed 1 week later. Compared with the control group, providers who received the tailored intervention had 85% lower odds of demonstrating a treatment bias against black patients and 76% lower odds of demonstrating a treatment bias against low SES patients at follow-up. Providers who received the intervention for racial bias also showed increased compassion for patients compared with providers in the control condition. Group differences did not emerge for provider comfort in treating patients. Results suggest an online intervention that is tailored to providers according to their individual treatment biases, delivers feedback about these biases, and provides opportunities for increased contact with black and low SES patients, can produce substantial changes in providers' treatment decisions, resulting in more equitable pain care. Future studies should examine how these effects translate to real-world patient care and the optimal timing/dose of the intervention.

1) To assess the feasibility of research methods to test a self-management intervention aimed at preventing acute to chronic pain transition in patients with major lower extremity trauma (iPACT-E-Trauma) and 2) to evaluate its potential effects at three and six months postinjury. Design. A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with two parallel groups.