PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R D Kerns

Publications and source records attributed to R D Kerns.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Self-monitored pain intensity: psychometric properties and clinical utility.

A procedure for the evaluation of fluctuations in perceived pain intensity among chronic pain patients is described, and its psychometric properties and clinical and heuristic utility are examined. A heterogeneous sample of 97 chronic pain patients recorded 2 weeks of hourly self-monitored pain intensity (SMPI), completed a structured interview and several questionnaires, and established behavioral goals prior to participation in a pain rehabilitation program. Three variables were derived from the SMPI data: mean SMPI, variability, and number of missing observations. A series of analyses supported both the test-retest reliability and the concurrent validity of SMPI. Significant correlations with measures of depression, anxiety, marital satisfaction, perceived life interference, and activity levels were interpreted as support for the conceptual validity of SMPI within a cognitive-behavioral perspective. The utility of SMPI in predicting rehabilitation outcomes was also demonstrated.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1987

The role of spouse reinforcement, perceived pain, and activity levels of chronic pain patients.

Levels of pain, activity, marital satisfaction, and contingent reinforcement for expressions of pain and suffering were assessed in chronic pain patients. In addition, spouses' marital satisfaction, mood, life control, and self-reported responses to the patient's pain were examined. Multiple regression analyses revealed that spouse reinforcement of overt expressions of pain was significantly related to both perceived pain and activity levels of chronic pain patients. The best predictor of patients' pain and activity levels was patients' perception of spouse reinforcement, followed by spouses' self-reported responses to the patients' pain. Spouse reinforcement of pain was not associated with spouses' marital satisfaction or perception of patients' pain levels. Rather, spouse reinforcement was associated with high interference of patients' pain with spouses' lives, spouses' positive mood, spouses' perception of more life control, as well as longer duration of the pain problem. The data support the importance of the spouse as a potential source of reinforcement of pain behavior.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Type A behavior pattern, inhibited power motivation, and activity inhibition.

The constructs of the Type A behavior pattern and the Inhibited Power Motive Syndrome (IPMS) have many features in common. The empirical relation between the two constructs was investigated in this study with 45 employed, male medical and surgical patients. Four different measures of the Type A pattern were examined. Results showed that, of the four measures, the Structured Interview and the Hostility Scale were related significantly to the IPMS. Systolic blood pressure reactivity was also related significantly to the IPMS. These relations could be ascribed largely to activity inhibition alone. The contribution of activity inhibition to an understanding of the biological and psychological substrates of the Type A behavior pattern is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Social insecurity, the type A behavior pattern, and sympathetic arousal.

Social insecurity is a psychological orientation that has been found to be associated significantly with both coronary atherosclerosis and psychological distress. Although sympathetic arousal has been assumed to be a cause of coronary atherosclerosis and an effect of psychological distress, neither of the prior studies included a measure of sympathetic arousal in its design. The present study fills this gap by examining social insecurity in relation to blood pressure, as an index of sympathetic arousal. The results, derived from 50 male, medical/surgical patients, are consistent with the pattern of findings in previous studies in that social insecurity was independent of the Type A pattern and additive to it in its association with blood pressure. Differences between social insecurity and the Type A pattern are discussed in terms of their differential associations with systolic versus diastolic pressure and their differential trait-like and state-like patterns of association with blood pressure.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

An empirical examination of the "pain-behavior" construct.

Observable means of communicating pain and suffering, "pain behaviors," have been postulated to comprise an important construct relevant in both the development and the maintenance of chronic pain [Fordyce, W.E. (1976). Behavioral Methods for Chronic Pain and Illness, C.V. Mosby, St. Louis, Mo.]. Two groups of professionals who have direct contact with chronic-pain patients (i.e., physicians and psychologists) participated in a study designed (a) to identify the latent or underlying characteristics of pain behaviors and (b) to assess the degree of agreement of these characteristics between health professionals with very different training. Multi-dimensional scaling and hierarchical clustering statistical techniques were employed to identify the latent structure of pain behaviors. Two primary pain behavior dimensions were identified, namely, audible-visible and affective-behavioral. Four clusters of pain behaviors were identified and labeled distorted ambulation or posture, negative affect, facial/audible expressions of distress, and avoidance of activity. The two samples of health-care providers identified virtually equivalent latent characteristics of pain behaviors. The data suggest that there is consistency in the pain-behavior construct and that the latent structure is generally congruent with Fordyce's original conceptualization. The results provide an empirically derived basis for the assessment of pain behaviors.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1985

Chronic pain: a multiple-setting comparison of patient characteristics.

Chronic pain patients attending four different pain management programs (N = 160) were compared on multiple variables encompassing demographics, the nature of the pain problem, and treatment history. Programs were selected because they differed on several dimensions (e.g., geographic location, general hospitals vs those serving veterans of Armed Services, university affiliated vs nonaffiliated) believed potentially to interact with treatment outcome. Results indicated differences between hospital programs serving veterans and general hospital programs (serving nonveterans) in terms of patients' age, percentage married, disability compensation, duration of pain symptoms, and treatment history. In addition, findings indicated that covariance among pain variables was dissimilar across the four types of pain programs, making it difficult to generalize from one type of setting to another regarding issues such as choice of optimal treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Lack of stimulation by high amphetamine doses following a low dose of spiperone.

The locomotor stimulant and stereotypic effects of amphetamine were investigated in rats pretreated with the specific dopaminergic blocker spiperone (0.25 mg/kg). Amphetamine doses from 8.0 to 64.0 mg/kg failed to stimulate behavior significantly and consistently after spiperone treatment. These results suggest the possibility of non-competitive antagonism by spiperone at dopaminergic synapses.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Conceptual issues in the assessment of clinical pain.

A number of approaches to the clinical assessment of pain are examined. Emphasis is placed on the importance of matching assessment procedures with specific research or referral questions being addressed. The importance of a comprehensive approach in which cognitive, affective, and behavioral, as well as sensory-physiological dimensions are assessed is discussed drawing on three case examples. Methodological and conceptual issues of pain assessment are examined and guidelines for comprehensive pain assessment are offered.

Adult↗