Publications by authors named "Rachel V Aaron"

This randomized controlled trial investigated the effectiveness of an online self-management program, "Take Charge of Burn Pain (TCBP)," for 96 individuals living with chronic burn pain. Participants were randomly assigned to either the 7-week TCBP program integrating cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, pain education, and self-management strategies or an attention control group focused on general burn recovery information. Assessments conducted at baseline, post-treatment, and 2- and 5-month follow-ups included measures of pain severity, pain interference, pain self-efficacy, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and depression.

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Introduction: Alexithymia is elevated in chronic pain and relates to poor pain-related outcomes. However, despite concerns from other clinical populations, the psychometric properties of alexithymia measures have not been rigorously established in chronic pain.

Objective: This study examined the psychometric properties of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 Item (TAS-20) and the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) in adults with chronic pain.

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This study investigated the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage, measured by the Area Deprivation Index (ADI), and pain-related variables in a pain psychology clinic. We also examined the sequential mediating roles of pain catastrophizing and pain-related fear on these relationships. Participants (N = 509) completed questionnaires assessing usual pain intensity, fatigue, emotional distress, and interference with daily activities.

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Objective: Chronic pain in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) is associated with adverse functional and psychological outcomes; however, inconsistent findings across studies necessitate a comprehensive synthesis. This meta-analysis aimed to quantify associations between anxiety, depression, and pain/functional outcomes, and explore study and sample moderators, such as age, sex, pain duration, recruitment setting, and measurement tools.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, and Embase through May 2024.

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Importance: For youth with chronic pain, anxiety and depression are reported as consequences of experiencing pain and maintaining factors of ongoing pain and disability. However, prevalence estimates of anxiety and depression remain unclear.

Objective: To report the prevalence of clinical anxiety and depression for youth with chronic pain and compare symptoms of anxiety and depression between youth with and without chronic pain.

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Individuals with chronic pain report disproportionally higher rates of trauma, yet it is unclear whether different types of trauma (eg, sexual, accidental trauma) are associated with worse pain outcomes. The present study sought to 1) identify subgroups of people with chronic pain based on trauma type, and 2) determine whether subgroups differ in terms of pain characteristics over a 2-year period. Individuals with chronic pain (N = 1,451) participated in an online study and completed self-report questionnaires at baseline, 3-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up.

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Darnall BD, Burns JW, Hong J, Roy A, Slater K, Poupore-King H, Ziadni MS, You DS, Jung C, Cook KF, Lorig K, Tian L, Mackey SC. Empowered relief, cognitive behavioral therapy and health education for people with chronic pain: a comparison of outcomes at 6-month follow-up for a randomized controlled trial. PAIN Reports 2024;9:e1116.

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Musculoskeletal injury is a leading cause of pain and disability worldwide; 35% to 75% of people experience persistent pain for months and years after injury. Psychological treatments can reduce pain, functional impairment, and psychological distress but are not widely used after injury. This systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO ID: CRD42021236807) aimed to synthesize the literature testing psychological treatments for pain after musculoskeletal injury.

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Studies have identified insomnia as having significant influence on chronic pain. A rising body of research has also underscored the association between eveningness and chronic pain. However, co-assessment of insomnia and eveningness in the context of chronic pain adjustment has been limited.

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Purpose/objective: Individuals with historically oppressed identities, such as disabled or racialized minorities, face inequities across all societal institutions, including education, criminal justice, and healthcare. Systems of oppression (e.g.

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Difficulties with pain-specific emotion regulation (ER; eg, pain catastrophizing, pain acceptance) are associated with poor pain outcomes. Less is known about how general ER relates to pain outcomes, or the extent to which pain-specific and general ER interact. In a sample (N = 1,453) of adults with chronic pain, the current study used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of people with distinct pain-specific and general ER profiles, and determined how subgroup membership at baseline related to pain severity, pain interference, depression and anxiety symptoms at 12-month follow-up.

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Recent studies suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as a unique psychosocial stressor that can negatively impact individuals with chronic pain. Using a large online sample in the U.S.

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People with chronic pain engage in various strategies, such as pain catastrophizing and pain acceptance, to regulate the difficult emotional aspects of living with pain. Engagement in these strategies is known to influence pain severity and pain interference. However, less research has examined the extent to which general emotion regulation, the ability to identify emotions and engage in strategies to alter emotions, relates to pain-related outcomes.

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Limited data are available on the longer-term physical and psychosocial consequences after major extremity trauma apart from literature on the consequences after major limb amputation. The existing literature suggests that although variations in outcome exist, a significant proportion of service members and civilians sustaining major limb trauma will have less than optimal outcomes or health and rehabilitation needs over their life course. The proposed pilot study will address this gap in current research by locating and consenting METRC participants with the period of 5-7 years postinjury, identifying potential participation barriers and appropriate use of incentives, and conducting the follow-up examination at several data collection sites.

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Objective: Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could disproportionately affect the health of vulnerable populations, including patients experiencing persistent health conditions (i.e., chronic pain), along with populations living within deprived, lower socioeconomic areas.

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Objective: Individuals with chronic pain are uniquely challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic, as increased stress may exacerbate chronic pain, and there are new barriers to receiving chronic pain treatment. In light of this, using a large online sample in the United States, we examined 1) the early impact of COVID-19 on pain severity, pain interference, and chronic pain management; and 2) variables associated with perceived changes in pain severity and pain interference.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

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Chronic pain is a common and costly condition, and some people with chronic pain engage in problematic opioid use. There is a critical need to identify factors underlying this co-occurrence, so that treatment can be targeted to improve outcomes. We propose that difficulty with emotion regulation (ER) is a transdiagnostic factor that underlies the co-occurrence of chronic pain and problematic opioid use (CP-POU).

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Background: Low back pain is a prevalent condition that causes a substantial health burden. Despite intensive and expensive clinical efforts, its prevalence is growing. Nonpharmacologic treatments are effective at improving pain-related outcomes; however, treatment effect sizes are often modest.

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Alexithymia, or a reduced ability to label and describe one's emotions, is a transdiagnostic construct associated with poor psychosocial outcomes. Currently, the mechanisms underlying affective deficits associated with alexithymia are unclear, hindering targeted treatment delivery. Recent research suggests deficient interoceptive awareness, or reduced awareness of one's internal bodily state, may be key in the etiology of alexithymia.

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Purpose/objective: Alexithymia refers to reduced emotional awareness and is associated with higher levels of burden and disability in adults with chronic pain. Limited research has examined alexithymia in adolescents with chronic pain. The current study aimed to (a) determine whether alexithymia was higher in adolescents with (vs.

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: To investigate the trajectory of sleep deficiency after concussion and examine its role as a predictor of postconcussive symptoms (PCS) over 3 weeks and at 3 months post-concussion. : This was a prospective pilot study of 29 adolescents recruited from a pediatric Emergency Department (69% female, mean age = 14.0 years, SD = 1.

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Objectives: Intensive interdisciplinary treatment is emerging as an effective treatment of chronic pain in youth. These programs often include a parental component with the belief that targeting parental distress and responses to a child's pain will improve outcomes. However, few studies have evaluated the impact of a parental intervention in the interdisciplinary treatment of pediatric chronic pain.

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Numerous studies have examined how alexithymia (difficulty identifying and describing one's emotions and a preference for externally oriented thinking) relates to chronic pain and associated disability. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize individual studies that either assessed alexithymia in individuals with chronic pain vs controls or related alexithymia to pain intensity, physical interference, depression, and anxiety. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO from inception through June 2017; 77 studies met the criteria (valid assessment of alexithymia in adults or children with any chronic pain condition) and were included in analyses (n = 8019 individuals with chronic pain).

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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate feasibility and acceptability of a hybrid cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention for adolescents with co-occurring migraine and insomnia.

Background: Many youth with chronic migraine have co-occurring insomnia. Little research has been conducted to evaluate behavioral treatments for insomnia in youth with migraine.

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Alexithymia is associated with increased risk for mental and physical health disorders but available assessments rely exclusively on self-report. The major aim of the current study was to develop and implement a performance-based task designed to characterize and quantify the relationship between one's description of emotional experience and self-reported alexithymia. Specifically, we examined performance-based measures of affect labeling of one's own emotions, emotional granularity and dialecticism.

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