Chronic pain in the context of the lives of dyads:Cognitions, Behaviors, and Well-being

Chronic pain has negative influences both on the patient and the entire family. In an attempt to investigate the interplay between the patient and the social environment, the current thesis showed that interactions among family members play a crucial role in the adjustment of patients with chronic pain. Patients who perceive more problems in the family environment tend to focus more negatively on their pain and thus experience more disability. Furthermore, changes in the family environment resulting from pain (e.g., caregiving demands) impact caregivers' well-being. Particularly, partners with more caregiving demands tend to shape maladaptive cognitions regarding the consequences of a patient’s pain condition, such as the notion that the patient’s pain controls their life, which deteriorates their psychological well-being. Apart from the interactions among family members, the results of this thesis inform us about the cognitive processes underlying the interaction between patients and partners, that is, the motives/meanings underlying pain behaviors and partner responses. This thesis shows that there are many variations regarding the motives/meanings that patients and partners attribute to the behaviors manifested in their interaction. The findings of this thesis suggest whether or not a particular pain behavior is adaptive needs to be determined for each couple. Similarly, patient's and partners’ interpretations of a partner response determine whether that response is rewarding or punishing regardless of the content of that response. Patients and partners need to receive guidance on how to engage in constructive mutual communications, where they are able to explicitly communicate the motives underlying their behaviors

The effect of stabilization method and Williams exercise on improvement of functions in patients with mechanical chronic low back pain

چکیده: زمینه و هدف: تمرین، یکی از مهم ترین درمان‌های توصیه شده به بیماران با کمردرد مزمن می باشد که تأثیرات اثبات شده ای در بهبود عملکرد و کار بیمار می گذارد. هدف از این مطالعه، مقایسه تأثیر دو روش ورزش های ثبات دهنده و ویلیام بر بهبود عملکرد بیماران با کمردرد مزمن مکانیکال می‌باشد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه کارآزمایی بالینی 34 بیمار زن با کمردرد مزمن به طور تصادفی در یکی از دو روش ورزش های ثبات دهنده (17 بیمار) و ورزش های ویلیام (17 بیمار) قرار گرفتند. هر دو گروه به مدت 14 جلسه تحت درمان مورد نظر قرار گرفتند. داده ها بر اساس پرسشنامه درد McGill، ناتوانی در کارهای روزمره قبل و بعد از درمان جمع آوری و داده ها با استفاده از آزمون های t مستقل و t زوجی، مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفت. یافته ها: نمره درد در گروه ورزش های ثبات دهنده از 3/7±5/33 به 7/11±4/14 (001/0>p) و در گروه ورزش های ویلیام از 2/7±8/31 به 107±5/11 (001/0>p) تغییر یافت. تغییر میانگین ناتوانی در کارهای روزمره در هر دو گروه معنی دار بود (05/0>p). آنالیز اطلاعات هیچ تفاوت مشخصی را در درد گزارش شده و ناتوانی گزارش شده در کارهای روزانه بین دو گروه نشان نداد (05/

The study of Triple dimensions (Subjective, psychological and spiritual) of Well-being in Prediction of fear of normal delivery in Pregnant women

Background and aims: Increasing the number of elective caesarean section in Iran caused by several factors including fear of normal delivery that is psychological factor. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between triple dimensions (Subjective, psychological and spiritual) of well-being in prediction of fear of normal delivery in pregnant women. Methods: This research method was descriptive and correlational. The research sample included178 pregnant women that referred to the clinic of two hospitals in Tehran with two tendencies of normal delivery and caesarean for childbirth, and were selected by convenient sampling. Participants completed the spiritual well-being scale, subjective well-being scale, psychological well-being index and researcher made questionnaire of fear of childbirth. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and stepwise regression analysis. Results: The results showed negative significant correlation between spiritual well-being, religious and existential well-being, life satisfaction, positive affect and psychological well-being with fear of normal delivery in pregnant women and positive significant correlation between negative affect and fear of childbirth (P≤0.01). Results also showed that existential well-being has negative significant role in predicting the fear of normal delivery. The final research model explains significantly 9% of variance of fear of normal delivery. Conclusion: From correlation between fear of normal delivery with the subjective, psychological and spiritual well-being in pregnant women, it can be concluded the increasing of satisfaction with life, positive affect and enriching the existential and religious beliefs in pregnant women can reduce their tendency for caesarean section and increase their readiness for selecting normal delivery

Dynamic analysis and controller design for a slider–crank mechanism with piezoelectric actuators

AbstractDynamic behaviour of a slider–crank mechanism associated with a smart flexible connecting rod is investigated. Effect of various mechanisms’ parameters including crank length, flexibility of the connecting rod and the slider׳s mass on the dynamic behaviour is studied. Two control schemes are proposed for elastodynamic vibration suppression of the flexible connecting rod and also obtaining a constant angular velocity for the crank. The first scheme is based on feedback linearization approach and the second one is based on a sliding mode controller. The input signals are applied by an electric motor located at the crank ground joint, and two layers of piezoelectric film bonded to the top and bottom surfaces of the connecting rod. Both of the controllers successfully suppress the vibrations of the elastic linkage

Factor structure and invariance of the pain catastrophizing scale in patients with chronic pain and their spouses

PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate the equivalency and factor structure of the patients and significant others' version of pain catastrophizing scales in patients with chronic pain and their spouses who are not in pain. METHOD: Participants were 142 married couples in which 1 spouse reported chronic musculoskeletal pain. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to compare 4 models of pain catastrophizing, and to examine the invariance of the factor structure of the PCS-Patient version and the PCS-Significant other version in patients with chronic pain and their spouses. RESULTS: The results indicated that the 2-factor oblique model provided an adequate fit to the data of both patients with chronic pain and their spouses who are not in pain. Moreover, it was found that when gender was controlled, the hypothesized factor structures of the PCS-patient version and the PCS-Significant other version were invariant. Indeed, it was revealed that the PCS-Patient version and the PCS-Significant other version measure the same factors in couples in which 1 of them have a chronic pain condition. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the current study showed that the 2-factor oblique model is the best fit in both samples (i.e., patients with chronic pain and their spouses). Therefore, it can be suggested that these versions can be used among patients and their spouses and the findings regarding them can be compared. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Myocardial infarction and stroke subsequent to urinary tract infection (MISSOURI): protocol for a self-controlled case series using linked electronic health records

Introduction There is increasing interest in the relationship between acute infections and acute cardiovascular events. Most previous research has focused on understanding whether the risk of acute cardiovascular events increases following a respiratory tract infection. The relationship between urinary tract infections (UTIs) and acute cardiovascular events is less well studied. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine whether there is a causal relationship between UTI and acute myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke.Methods and analysis We will undertake a self-controlled case series study using linked anonymised general practice, hospital admission and microbiology data held within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. Self-controlled case series is a relatively novel study design where individuals act as their own controls, thereby inherently controlling for time-invariant confounders. Only individuals who experience an exposure and outcome of interest are included.We will identify individuals in the SAIL Databank who have a hospital admission record for acute MI or stroke during the study period of 2010–2020. Individuals will need to be aged 30–100 during the study period and be Welsh residents for inclusion. UTI will be identified using general practice, microbiology and hospital admissions data. We will calculate the incidence of MI and stroke in predefined risk periods following an UTI and in ‘baseline’ periods (without UTI exposure) and use conditional Poisson regression models to derive incidence rate ratios.Ethics and dissemination Data access, research permissions and approvals have been obtained from the SAIL independent Information Governance Review Panel, project number 0972. Findings will be disseminated through conferences, blogs, social media threads and peer-reviewed journals. Results will be of interest internationally to primary and secondary care clinicians who manage UTIs and may inform future clinical trials of preventative therapy

The effect of short time telephone follow-up on physical conditions and quality of life in patients after pacemaker implantation

چکیده: زمینه و هدف: آریتمی های قلبی یکی از شایع ترین بیماری های قلبی عروقی هستند. ضربان ساز به عنوان یکی از روش های درمانی در مراقبت از بیماران دارای مشکلات قلبی می تواند بسیاری از علایم بیماران را برطرف نماید. علیرغم فواید زیاد استفاده از این دستگاه ها، ممکن است عوارضی نظیر مشکلات جسمی و روانی برای بیماران به دنبال داشته و کیفیت زندگی آنها را تحت تاثیر قرار دهند. این مطالعه با هدف تعیین تاثیر پیگیری تلفنی توسط پرستار بر ابعاد مختلف کیفیت زندگی بیماران دارای ضربان ساز صورت گرفت. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه کارآزمایی بالینی کیفیت زندگی 60 بیمار دارای ضربان ساز در دو گروه پیگیری تلفنی و مداخلات روتین با استفاده از پرسشنامه کیفیت زندگی (AQOL و sf-36) در دوره زمانی یک ماهه مورد بررسی قرار گرفتند. اطلاعات با استفاده از آزمون های تی مستقل و تی زوج مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفتند. یافته ها: میانگین امتیاز کیفیت زندگی دو گروه قبل از مداخله اختلاف معنی داری نداشت ولی پس از مطالعه در گروه مورد و شاهد به ترتیب 42/14±27/76 و 86/14±11/54 بود (001/0