Publications by authors named "Dokyoung S You"
Article Synopsis
- A 30-day alcohol abstinence challenge was introduced to help heavy drinkers, both with and without chronic pain, focusing on its feasibility, safety, and perceived benefits.
- The study involved 34 participants from a pain clinic and a university, with 72.3% completing the challenge successfully, without serious negative effects.
- The challenge led to significant improvements in withdrawal symptoms, sleep, and self-efficacy regarding alcohol abstinence, while identifying various coping strategies and benefits; further research is needed to assess long-term effects.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic pain is linked to a higher risk of opioid misuse, prompting the need for non-drug interventions; the MOBILE Relief study aims to compare a skill-based digital intervention ('Empowered Relief') tailored for those at risk of opioid misuse with a general health education program ('Living Better').
- The study is a randomized controlled trial involving adults with chronic pain, who will participate through online screenings, treatment assignments, and follow-up surveys to assess the effectiveness of the interventions.
- Key outcomes will focus on pain perception, opioid cravings, and misuse rates at 1 and 3 months post-treatment, with a hypothesis that the 'Empowered Relief' group will show better results than the control group.
Background: Chronic pain affects tens of millions of US adults and continues to rise in prevalence. Nonpharmacologic behavioral pain treatments are greatly needed and yet are often inaccessible, particularly in settings where medication prescribing is prioritized.
Objective: This study aims to test the feasibility of a live-instructor, web-based 1-session pain relief skills class in an underserved and potentially at-risk population: people with chronic pain prescribed methadone or buprenorphine either solely for pain or for comorbid opioid use disorder (OUD).
Background And Objectives: The learning healthcare system (LHS) has been developed to integrate patients' clinical data into clinical decisions and improve treatment outcomes. Having little guidance on this integration process, we aim to explain (a) an applicable analytic tool for clinicians to evaluate the clinical outcomes at a group and an individual level and (b) our quality improvement (QI) project, analyzing the outcomes of a new outpatient pain rehabilitation program ("Back-in-Action": BIA) and applying the analysis results to modify our clinical practice.
Methods: Through our LHS (CHOIR; https://choir.
Introduction: We previously conducted a 3-arm randomized trial (263 adults with chronic low back pain) which compared group-based (1) single-session pain relief skills intervention (Empowered Relief; ER); (2) 8-session cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for chronic back pain; and (3) single-session health and back pain education class (HE). Results suggested non-inferiority of ER vs. CBT at 3 months post-treatment on an array of outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLow back pain (LBP) significantly affects global health, with associated detrimental outcomes such as physical impairment, emotional distress, and exacerbated mental health symptoms. This study evaluated the representation of marginalized groups, including racialized, gender minority, pregnant/lactating, and elderly individuals in randomized controlled trials for pharmacological interventions treating LBP from 2011 to 2020. We searched Embase, MEDLINE, and CINAHL in December 2021, and 139 studies were eligible.
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- A new 4-item scale called "BriefPCS" was created to minimize the burden of the longer 13-item Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) for patients.
- The study aimed to link BriefPCS scores to PCS scores, examine their validity, and assess BriefPCS in a randomized clinical trial (RCT).
- Findings showed that BriefPCS scores reliably reflect levels of pain catastrophizing and are sensitive to treatment changes, providing a valid and less burdensome alternative to the PCS.
Article Synopsis
- The study explored how the COVID-19 pandemic affected stressors and health outcomes for patients at a pain clinic over two years (May 2020 to June 2022).
- It involved 1270 adult patients, mainly white, female, married, and with college education, using linear mixed effect modeling to track changes in stress and health indicators.
- Results showed that while patients reported more exposure to COVID-19, overall pandemic-related stress decreased, and their health outcomes improved, with particular vulnerabilities noted in younger adults, Hispanics, and those on disability.
Article Synopsis
- * A study involving 768 participants analyzed the relationship between self-affirmation and perceived health status, finding that while self-affirmation improved mental health outcomes, it did not significantly impact physical health or pain levels.
- * The results highlight the importance of fostering self-affirmation techniques in therapeutic settings for chronic pain management, though further research is needed to explore their effects on overall physical health.
Pain catastrophizing is understood as a negative cognitive and emotional response to pain. Researchers, advocates and patients have reported stigmatizing effects of the term in clinical settings and the media. We conducted an international study to investigate patient perspectives on the term pain catastrophizing.
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- - This study explored a digital behavioral medicine program called "My Surgical Success" (MSS) to see if it could reduce pain and improve recovery for orthopedic trauma surgery patients, compared to a standard general health education (HE) program.
- - Researchers conducted a trial with 133 patients, with 84 completing the study, finding that both groups reported improvements, but MSS had a higher engagement rate (63%) and acceptance (over 80%) among participants.
- - Results showed that MSS was feasible and hinted at greater benefits in pain intensity reduction and earlier opioid cessation, although both groups saw improvements in various outcomes during recovery.
Article Synopsis
- High Impact Chronic Pain (HICP) is a new concept for categorizing chronic pain patients based on the extent to which their pain affects daily activities, defined as having substantial restrictions for at least six months.
- The study explored the perceived impact of HICP on adults younger than 65 and older adults 65 and over, using surveys and established scales to measure pain interference in daily life.
- Results indicated that younger adults primarily felt pain's impact on work and social activities, while older adults reported difficulties with basic physical activities and daily living tasks, highlighting differences in how chronic pain affects these two age groups.
Article Synopsis
- A study was conducted to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affected health symptoms in patients with chronic pain, comparing data from before and after the pandemic onset.
- The research analyzed survey responses from over 7,500 patients, revealing that while pain levels remained the same, feelings of pain catastrophizing increased during peak COVID-19 cases in July 2020.
- Improvements were noted in areas like pain interference, physical function, and emotional support for the post-pandemic group, indicating resilience among chronic pain patients despite ongoing challenges.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is common and severely affects people's lives; this study evaluates two different treatments to help manage its effects.
- The study compared a single-session pain management class (empowered relief) to an 8-session cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and health education over three months to see if the simpler class is equally effective as CBT and better than health education.
- Results showed that the empowered relief class was about as effective as CBT in reducing pain catastrophizing, and both were better than health education.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the role of different facets of impulsivity in predicting aberrant opioid behaviors, such as misuse and abuse, among chronic pain patients.
- It used online surveys to gather data from primarily middle-aged, female, and White/Caucasian patients visiting a pain clinic and analyzed results using ordinal regression.
- The findings revealed that lack of premeditation significantly predicted aberrant opioid-related behaviors and, when combined with pain catastrophizing, explained over half of the variance in these behaviors.
: Observational studies suggest emotion regulation (ER) as a potential treatment target for problematic college drinking. The primary aim of this laboratory study was to determine whether trait ER strategies would moderate the impact of negative affect induction on alcohol craving in college drinkers. : Participants were randomly assigned to a neutral ( = 74) or a negative affect induction ( = 76) and reported their craving after the affect inductions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatient Reported Outcomes (PROs) are utilized in clinical registries and trials, necessitating development of benchmarks to enhance interpretability. This study aimed to 1) examine if PROMIS measures administered via computer adaptive testing (CAT) were responsive to change, and 2) highlight one method of assessing clinically significant change for youth seen in a tertiary pain clinic. Clinically significant change was achieved if patients had significantly reliable pre-to-post-changes greater than Reliable Change Index (RCI) value and reported decreased symptoms by at least one severity level (e.
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- A study assessed the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program compared to cognitive and behavioral therapy (CBT) for real-world patients with chronic back pain.
- *The multidisciplinary approach showed significant improvements in mobility and pain behaviors, while both programs improved related psychological factors, like depression and anxiety.
- *Pain levels did not significantly change for either program, suggesting the multidisciplinary approach's benefits may extend beyond pain reduction.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated the PROMIS®-Rx Pain Medication Misuse item bank (Bank-22), which can be burdensome for participants, and tested its performance using computer adaptive testing (CAT) with various stopping rules.
- 288 patients were involved, with the research comparing traditional scoring methods against variations that allowed stopping the questionnaire early if initial responses suggested low misuse.
- The results showed that using "best health" stopping rules significantly reduced response burden by approximately 42%, although it compromised precision for those with lower levels of misuse, which might be acceptable when focusing on identifying higher misuse levels.
Objectives: Social and interpersonal factors impact the trajectory of chronic pain. We previously developed and validated a 2-factor, 7-item measure to assess interpersonal factors, including relationship guilt and worry and difficulty prioritizing self-care in chronic pain. Here, we confirm the factor structure and examine the sex invariance of the two-factor structure of the CARE Scale-7.
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- Emotional approach coping (EAC) is a style that helps people with chronic pain manage their emotions and can lead to lower pain intesnity and interference.
- In a study with 670 participants, higher EAC correlated with lower pain intensity and interference, particularly among young/middle-aged adults and women, through reduced negative affect.
- Findings indicate that enhancing EAC strategies could be beneficial for some individuals dealing with chronic pain, although the relationships observed are considered preliminary and small in magnitude.
Aims: Rodent studies propose potential mechanisms linking excessive drinking and pain hypersensitivity (hyperalgesia), such that stress hormones (i.e. epinephrine and cortisol) mediate induction and maintenance of alcohol withdrawal-induced hyperalgesia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCumulative evidence supports the association between perceived childhood neglect and adulthood psychological and physical health. To date, pathways mediating this association remain largely unknown, though other evidence suggests that negative patterns of appraisal, including injustice perception related to pain, may be shaped by prior adverse social experiences. Consequently, the current study examined perceived injustice about chronic pain as a possible factor connecting childhood neglect and pain-related outcomes, given its relevance for both adaptation to chronic pain and to prior adverse life experiences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly co-occurs with chronic pain. Although PTSD symptoms are associated with negative health outcomes in patients with chronic pain, PTSD is typically under-detected and under-treated in outpatient pain settings. There is a need for rapid, brief screening tools to identify those at greatest risk for severe PTSD symptoms.
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