Human pain models: other: Impact of family pain modelling on acute pain experience

Abstract

Familial pain models have been reported to influence a person's judgment and experience of pain. For instance, Koutantji et al., (1998) found family history of pain was related to increased pain complaints. While considerable amount of research has investigated the relationship between family's pain history and frequency of pain episodes (Zeichner et al., 1999), the effect of familial pain models on acute pain experience has received relatively little attention. One study reported that exposure to family pain models was negatively correlated with subjective pain ratings during an acute pain episode (Zeichner et al., 1999). The present study aims to elucidate further the relationship between familial pain modelling (i.e., the number of pain models and the frequency of exposure to overt pain behaviour) and both amount of pain reported and physiological arousal during the cold pressor (CP) task. This study will analyze a subset of data collected for a doctoral dissertation. Seventy-five female undergraduate students underwent the CP task with a female observer (unacquainted with the participant) present. Participants provided their family's pain history, unpleasantness pain ratings during the task using the Gracely Verbal Rating Scale (Gracely & Dubner, 1987) and pain ratings after the task using the Visual Analogue Scale. Pain tolerance was operationally defined as the length of time participant's hand was submerged in the CP (up to a maximum of 5 minutes). Participants' pulse rate was monitored throughout the CP task as a physiological index of distress. Pearson product-moment correlations will be computed to examine relationships between familial pain modeling and other variables. Findings will be discussed in reference to previous research where participants underwent the cold pressor alone. Clarifying the relationship between familial pain models and acute pain experience will facilitate better understanding of how people cope with pain and inform assessment and treatment practices.