Tested the predictive power of self-efficacy expectations of physical capabilities, expectations of pain, and expectations of reinjury on physical function in chronic back pain patients. Before assessment of function, patients rated their abilities to perform essential job tasks--functional self-efficacy (FSE)--and the likelihood working would…

Finnish nursing students (n=85) specializing in child nursing had mainly positive attitudes about caring for children in pain, but lacked knowledge of medications and pain assessment. There were no knowledge differences between older and younger students or those with more or less work experience. (SK)

A sample of 124 women with osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia, or both, completed initial assessments for demographic data, health status, and personality traits and 10-12 weekly interviews regarding pain, stress, negative affect, and positive affect. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that weekly elevations of pain and stress predicted increases…

An exciting period in mental and physical health research is beginning, resulting from a paradigm shift from an outdated biomedical reductionism approach to a more comprehensive biopsychosocial model, which emphasizes the unique interactions among biological, psychological, and social factors required to better understand health and illness. This…

Questionnaires for measuring patients' feelings or beliefs are commonly used in clinical settings for diagnostic purposes, clinical decision making, or treatment evaluation. Raw scores of a patient can be evaluated by comparing them with norms based on a reference population. Using the Pain Cognition List (PCL-2003) as an example, this article…

This study examined the association of spirituality and health-related quality of life among 226 HIV-positive men. Two measures of spirituality were used: the Spiritual Growth subscale from the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (S. N. Walker, K. R. Sechrist, & N. J. Pender, 1987) and the Spirituality subscale of the HIV Coping Instrument (L.…

This commentary reviews the case of GH, a survivor of a road traffic collision, who has chronic pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The case formulation, assessment strategy, and treatment plan are informed by the relevant experimental literature and empirically supported treatments using a cognitive behavioral perspective. Given this…

Reports of adolescents' coping with recurrent pain, symptoms of anxiety/depression, and somatic complaints were obtained from a sample of 164 adolescents with recurrent abdominal pain and their parents. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that coping consisted of 3 nonorthogonal factors: Primary Control Engagement Coping (problem solving,…

This study examined the relationship between a self-reported history of child physical and sexual abuse and chronic pain among women (N = 3381) in a provincewide community sample. Chronic pain was significantly associated with physical abuse, education, and age of the respondents and was unrelated to child sexual abuse alone or in combination with…

Coping style and effects of counseling intervention on pain tolerance was studied for 61 elementary school students through immersion of hands in cold water. Bayesian predictive inference tools are able to distinguish between subject characteristics and manipulable treatments. Sensitivity analysis strengthens the certainty of conclusions about…

A literature review revealed an absence of well-controlled studies concerning the prevention of sports injuries in children. A checklist outlines some causes of the overuse syndrome, including (1) training errors; (2) the nature of playing surfaces; (3) muscle imbalance; (4) anatomic malalignments; (5) construction of shoes; and (6) various…

The objective of this study was to describe the incidence, type, risk factors, and sequelae of fractures experienced by community-dwelling elderly Canadians. Data are from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), a longitudinal cohort study, collected in three waves: baseline (1991), wave 2 (1996), and wave 3 (2001). In CSHA-2 (1996),…

Background: Although there is anecdotal evidence of an increase in both period pain and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in women with intellectual disabilities (ID), there are only brief mentions of it in the literature. Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to parents of women with Down syndrome (DS) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), resulting in…

Objective: This prospective study characterizes trajectories of symptoms and impairment in pediatric patients with abdominal pain not associated with identifiable organic disease. Method: The Children's Somatization Inventory and the Functional Disability Inventory were administered four times over 5 years to 132 patients (6-18 years old) seen in…

For Vietnamese refugees, we describe (a) how headache- and orthostasis-focused panic attacks are generated, (b) a culturally sensitive treatment for PTSD with comorbid headache- and orthostasis-focused panic attacks, and (c) the outcome of a treatment series. In a multiple-baseline, across-subjects design (N = 3), all patients demonstrated…