Chronic pain is an increasing public health concern, with an associated poor quality of life. Social media platforms play an increasing role in health communication issues, but visual platforms such as Pinterest are understudied. This study analyzed 502 Pinterest posts for chronic pain--related variables, including health belief model constructs,…

This paper describes a community art therapy group for people living with chronic pain. Nine adults were offered 12 weekly group art therapy sessions that included art therapy activities such as guided imagery focusing on body scans followed by art responses and artistic expressions of the pain experience. This pilot group art therapy program is…

Background: Despite breast screening in Britain being free to all women within the allotted age range, uptake of this service is often poor in women with intellectual disabilities. Reasons put forward are numerous, including poor knowledge, pain and difficulty travelling to the centre. However, what influences the decision to attend is rarely…

Research has suggested that individuals who engage in self-injurious behavior may have enhanced expressions of pain, which contradicts previous assertions of blunted pain sensitivity in this population. The purpose of this study was to measure expressions of pain among young children being evaluated for autism and other neurodevelopmental…

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with boys and young men who have Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a severe, degenerative condition that only affects boys. The main focus of the interviews was to explore how the participants thought they might make a decision to take part in medical research. To better understand this, aspects of the…

The use of animals for therapeutic purposes has been documented in the literature for centuries. This review will highlight evidence of the benefits of animal-assisted therapy as well as provide a plethora of resources for therapists interested in learning more about how animals can provide restorative benefits for their clients.

Background: Caregivers have an intimate knowledge of the individuals they care for and are therefore an important source of information on pain experiences. They are often relied upon to recognize pain-related behaviours and report them, but little is known as to how they experience their role. Methods: Information was collected from 11 caregivers…

This paper presents a concept for designing low-cost therapeutic training with biofeedback and virtual reality. We completed the first evaluation of a prototype--a mobile learning application for relaxation training, primarily for adolescents suffering from tension-type headaches. The system delivers visual experience on a head-mounted display. A…

Evidenced-based psychotherapies (EBPs) are primarily disseminated via in-person workshops, which have been shown to be effective in training clinicians. However, there is limited space at these workshops, they occur in limited locations, and the time and money required to travel to these workshops is limiting for many providers. An online virtual…

"That was so fun!" is a phrase that physical education teachers and coaches will likely never get tired of hearing from children. Without fun, youth are unlikely to voluntarily engage in physical activity. While the notion of fun (i.e., enjoyment) in physical activity has been increasingly studied over the past few decades, there has…

The study of human anatomy is an integral component in the education of future occupational therapists, yet there is a paucity of research that explores the anatomy needs of students and new practitioners. As a follow up from a pilot study that surveyed a small cohort of practicing therapists, this article aimed to determine occupational therapy…

Two experiments were conducted to investigate how individuals with persistent pain would respond to instructional materials designed to promote the modality and redundancy effects. It was predicted that persistent pain would reduce the positive impact of narrated text due to reduced working memory capacity. One hundred thirty-seven full-time…

Background: Headache is the most common type of pain reported in the pediatric population, and chronic headache is an increasingly prevalent and debilitating pain condition in children and adolescents. With large numbers of students experiencing acute headaches and more students with chronic headache reentering typical school settings, greater…

Background: Adults with Down syndrome (DS) are at risk for age-related painful physical conditions, but also for under-reporting pain. Pictograms may facilitate self-report of pain, because they seem suitable for the global visual processing in DS and for iconic representation of abstract concepts. Method: Participants (N = 39, M age = 41.2)…

Considerable evidence has demonstrated that transient receptor potential (TRP) channels play vital roles in sensory neurons, mediating responses to various environmental stimuli. In contrast, relatively little is known about how TRP channels exert their effects in the central nervous system to control complex behaviors. This is also true for the…