Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) for chronic pain - an overview of Cochrane reviews (Protocol)

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To provide an overview of evidence from Cochrane systematic reviews of the effectiveness of TENS to reduce pain in adults with chronic pain (excluding headache or migraine). To provide an overview of evidence from Cochrane systematic reviews of the safety of TENS to reduce pain in adults with chronic pain (excluding headache or migraine). To identify possible sources of inconsistency in the approaches taken to evaluating the evidence related to TENS for chronic pain (excluding headache or migraine) in the Cochrane Library with a view to recommending strategies to improve consistency. To highlight areas of remaining uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of TENS for chronic pain (excluding headache or migraine) with a view to recommending strategies to reduce any uncertainty

Validation of the Japanese version of the Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire in patients with low back pain

Background: There is a growing interest in the role of disturbed body perception in people with persistent pain problems such as chronic low back pain (CLBP). A questionnaire, the Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ), was recently developed as a simple and quick way of assessing disturbed perceptual awareness of the back in people with CLBP and appears to have acceptable psychometric properties. The aim of the present study was to develop a Japanese version of the FreBAQ (FreBAQ-J) and evaluate its psychometric properties in a sample of Japanese people with low back pain (LBP). Methods: Translation of the FreBAQ into Japanese was conducted using a forward-backward method. One hundred participants with LBP completed the resultant FreBAQ-J. A subset of the participants completed the FreBAQ-J again 2 weeks later. Validity was investigated by examining the relationship between the FreBAQ-J and clinical valuables. Rasch analysis was used to assess targeting, category ordering, unidimensionality, person fit, internal consistency, and differential item functioning. Results: The FreBAQ-J was significantly correlated with pain in motion, disability, pain-related catastrophizing, fear of movement, and anxiety symptomatology. The FreBAQ-J had acceptable internal consistency, a minor departure from unidimensionality, and good test-retest reliability, and was functional on the category rating scale. Conclusions: The FreBAQ-J has acceptable psychometric properties and is suitable for use in people with LBP. Participants with high levels of disturbed body perception are well targeted by the scale. The functioning of one item (item 8) was poor. Further study is warranted to confirm if this item should be exclude

Strategies to Recruit and Retain College Smokers in Cessation Trials

Techniques to recruit and retain college fraternity and sorority members who reported past 30-day smoking into a cessation trial are described. Recruitment efforts included relationship-building, raffles, and screening survey administration during existing meetings. Surveys were administered to 76% (n = 3,276) of members in 30 chapters, 79% of eligible members agreed to participate, and 76% of those completed assessments and were enrolled in the trial (n = 452). The retention rate was 73%. Retention efforts included cash incentives, flexible scheduling, multiple reminders, chapter incentives, and use of chapter members as study personnel. Retention was not related to demographic, behavioral, or group characteristics. The strategies of partnership, convenience, and flexibility appear effective and may prove useful to investigators recruiting similar samples

Development and psychometric properties of knee-specific body-perception questionnaire in people with knee osteoarthritis: The Fremantle Knee Awareness Questionnaire

Background: Recent systematic reviews have demonstrated that pain associated with knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a complex phenomenon that involves various contributors. People with knee OA exhibit symptoms of impaired body-perception, including reduced tactile acuity, impairments in limb laterality recognition, and degraded proprioceptive acuity. The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) was developed to assess body-perception specific to the back in people with chronic low back pain. The aim of this study was to develop and assess the psychometric properties of a knee-specific version of the FreBAQ-J (FreKAQ-J), determine whether people with knee pain experience perceptual impairments and investigate the relationship between disturbed self-perception and clinical status. Methods: Sixty-five people with knee OA completed the FreKAQ-J. A subset of the participants completed the FreKAQ-J again two-weeks later. Rasch analysis was used to assess item order, targeting, category ordering, unidimensionality, person fit, internal consistency, and differential item functioning. Validity was investigated by examining the relationship between the FreKAQ-J and clinical valuables. Results: The FreKAQ-J had acceptable internal consistency, unidimensionality, good test-retest reliability, and was functional on the category rating scale. The FreKAQ-J was significantly correlated with pain in motion, disability, pain-related catastrophizing, fear of movement, and anxiety symptomatology. Conclusions: We developed FreKAQ-J by modifying the FreBAQ-J. The FreKAQ-J fits the Rasch measurement model well and is suitable for use in people with knee OA. Altered body perception may be worth evaluating when managing people with knee OA

The close proximity of threat: Altered distance perception in the anticipation of pain

Pain is an experience that powerfully influences the way we interact with our environment. What is less clear is the influence that pain has on the way we perceive our environment. We investigated the effect that the anticipation of experimental pain (THREAT) and its relief (RELIEF) has on the visual perception of space. Eighteen (11F) healthy volunteers estimated the distance to alternating THREAT and RELIEF stimuli that were placed within reachable space. The results determined that the estimated distance to the THREAT stimulus was significantly underestimated in comparison to the RELIEF stimulus. We conclude that pain-evoking stimuli are perceived as closer to the body than otherwise identical pain-relieving stimuli, an important consideration when applied to our decisions and behaviors in relation to the experience of pain

Depicting the tree of life in museums: guiding principles from psychological research

The Tree of Life is revolutionizing our understanding of life on Earth, and, accordingly, evolutionary trees are increasingly important parts of exhibits on biodiversity and evolution. The authors argue that in using these trees to effectively communicate evolutionary principles, museums need to take into account research results from cognitive, developmental, and educational psychology while maintaining a focus on visitor engagement and enjoyment. Six guiding principles for depicting evolutionary trees in museum exhibits distilled from this research literature were used to evaluate five current or recent museum trees. One of the trees was then redesigned in light of the research while preserving the exhibit’s original learning goals. By attending both to traditional factors that influence museum exhibit design and to psychological research on how people understand diagrams in general and Tree of Life graphics in particular, museums can play a key role in fostering 21st century scientific literacy

The translation, validity and reliability of the German version of the Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire

Background: The Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ) claims to assess disrupted self-perception of the back. The aim of this study was to develop a German version of the Fre-BAQ (FreBAQ-G) and assess its test-retest reliability, its known-groups validity and its convergent validity with another purported measure of back perception. Methods: The FreBaQ-G was translated following international guidelines for the transcultural adaptation of questionnaires. Thirty-five patients with non-specific CLBP and 48 healthy participants were recruited. Assessor one administered the FreBAQ-G to each patient with CLBP on two separate days to quantify intra-observer reliability. Assessor two administered the FreBaQ-G to each patient on day 1. The scores were compared to those obtained by assessor one on day 1 to assess inter-observer reliability. Known-groups validity was quantified by comparing the FreBAQ-G score between patients and healthy controls. To assess convergent validity, patient\u27s FreBAQ-G scores were correlated to their two-point discrimination (TPD) scores. Results: Intra- and Inter-observer reliability were both moderate with ICC3.1 = 0.88 (95%CI: 0.77 to 0.94) and 0.89 (95%CI: 0.79 to 0.94), respectively. Intra- and inter-observer limits of agreement (LoA) were 6.2 (95%CI: 5.0±8.1) and 6.0 (4.8±7.8), respectively. The adjusted mean difference between patients and controls was 5.4 (95%CI: 3.0 to 7.8, p\u3c0.01). Patient\u27s FreBAQ-G scores were not associated with TPD thresholds (Pearson\u27s r = -0.05, p = 0.79). Conclusions: The FreBAQ-G demonstrated a degree of reliability and known-groups validity. Interpretation of patient level data should be performed with caution because the LoA were substantial. It did not demonstrate convergent validity against TPD. Floor effects of some items of the FreBAQ-G may have influenced the validity and reliability results. The clinimetric properties of the FreBAQ-G require further investigation as a simple measure of disrupted self-perception of the back before firm recommendations on its use can be made