PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

S L Chapman

Publications and source records attributed to S L Chapman.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Treatment Helpfulness Questionnaire: a measure of patient satisfaction with treatment modalities provided in chronic pain management programs.

The Treatment Helpfulness Questionnaire (THQ) is presented as a reliable and valid measure for assessing patient perceptions of the helpfulness of treatment modalities offered at multidisciplinary pain centers. It is easy to administer and score and shows good interscorer and test-retest reliability without order effects and with good internal consistency. Patients give diverse responses to items that fall into four factors, three of which represent identifiable components of multidisciplinary treatment for chronic pain. Findings that similar THQ items are positively correlated and that many items show positive correlations with treatment outcome support the validity of the instrument. The latter finding also suggests the potential of patient satisfaction measurement for improving treatment outcomes at pain centers.

Adult

Soil and solid poultry waste nutrient management and water quality.

Concerns about the impacts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and pathogens on surface and ground water quality has forced the poultry industry to implement voluntary waste management guidelines for use by growers. In some states, animal waste guidelines are being enforced by regulatory agencies. Strategies that growers may use to properly dispose of poultry waste include: 1) local land application as a fertilizer; 2) offsite marketing for use as a fertilizer or soil amendment, feed additive, or energy source; and 3) chemical additives that will immobilize nitrogen and phosphorus in the manure or litter. If properly followed, these and other innovative strategies should be adequate to protect surface and ground water quality without adversely affecting the economics of poultry production.

Animal Husbandry

Prediction of treatment outcome from clinically derived MMPI clusters in rehabilitation for chronic low back pain.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the ability of specific and clinically relevant Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profile types to predict outcomes in a structured interdisciplinary pain-management program for patients with low back pain. DESIGN: Subjects were divided into clusters representing MMPI profiles yielding similar clinical interpretation. Analyses of variance and chi-square testing assessed the effect of cluster group on a variety of outcome measures at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 6- to 66-month follow-up. Fisher's Least Significant Difference Test assessed the significance of differences between pairs of cluster groups. SETTING: A university-based comprehensive interdisciplinary pain-management program serving both inpatients and outpatients. PATIENTS: 122 subjects with chronic low back pain who completed the program, provided follow-up data, and fit into the definition of one of seven clusters. MAJOR OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reports of subjective pain intensity, pain-related medication intake, and activity level at pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up; employment status at pretreatment and follow-up. RESULTS: Cluster groups did not differ significantly at any time on activity level and medication intake and differed on employment status only at pretreatment. There was a significant (p < 0.05) effect of cluster group on subjective pain intensity, but only two pairwise group comparisons were significant: subjects with a normal MMPI profile and those with no elevations except T = 71-80 on Hypochondriasis and Hysteria reported less pain at follow-up than did subjects with extreme elevations (T > 80) on both Hypochondriasis and Hysteria. CONCLUSION: Even when subjects with chronic pain are divided into cluster groups associated with highly similar clinical interpretations, the MMPI for the most part fails to predict self-reported outcomes in an interdisciplinary pain-management program.

Chronic Disease

Patterns of conscious failure to provide accurate self-report data in patients with low back pain.

Assessment and treatment responses were compared in 17 subjects with chronic low back pain assessed as showing at least one clear consciously produced inconsistency in statements and/or behaviors during their participation in an interdisciplinary treatment program and 143 subjects assessed as showing no such inconsistency. Numerous statistically significant differences emerged: Inconsistent subjects were more likely to have pending litigation and to be assessed by staff as showing a higher degree of focus on pain and more dramatized complaints, lower levels of medical findings and attention and interest in treatment, and poor compliance with treatment and assessment procedures. In addition, these subjects reported lower levels of physical activity and generally more inconsistent or negative responses to lumbar sympathetic injections with fewer expected changes in physical sensations. Though not definitive, these results suggested a syndrome of characteristics among such subjects which are similar to those proposed as likely characterizing malingerers. The need for a particularly careful validation of self-report data in patients showing many of these characteristics was emphasized.

Adult

The "learned pain syndrome": decoding a patient's pain signals.

Learned pain is a distinct entity with its own set of symptoms, diagnostic criteria, and treatment methods. Recognition of the condition by health professionals is necessary for proper patient management and will facilitate further research and appropriate training.

Conditioning, Psychological

Chronic pain as a learned experience: Emory University Pain Control Center.

Chronic pain is often a conditioned socioeconomic disease. A majority of chronic pain patients show pain behavior in excess of biomedical findings and disability ratings out of proportion to their actual physical impairment. Biomedical data and pain behavior are independent variables, as the latter is heavily controlled by socioeconomic factors. The diagnosis of chronic pain patients requires evaluation and matching of both variables. When disability claims are present, a comprehensive vocational evaluation should be performed and matched with biomedical and behavioral findings. The Emory Pain Estimate Model for diagnosis of chronic pain states is discussed briefly and techniques of vocational evaluation are presented also. The structure of the Emory Pain Control Program and data from treatment outcome are presented and discussed.

Conditioning, Operant

Maturation of normal human epidermis without an ordered structure.

Whole mounts of epidermis were prepared from hamster and mouse ears and from three sites on six normal human volunteers. Corneocyte columns were sought visually with the light microscope and statistically with cluster analysis applied to the surface distribution of superficial nucleated keratinocytes. In fifteen consecutive fields of hamster and mouse epidermis, both cell columns and clustering of nuclei were detected. In eighteen consecutive biopsies from the forearm, back and thigh of six normal adult men, stacking was never seen and clustering could not be demonstrated statistically. Corneocyte columns do occur regularly in some mammalian species and they have been reported to occur in human skin, but such columns are not common in these sites from normal human skin.

Aged

Chronic pain states: their relationship to impairment and disability.

Chronic pain patients (101) were assigned ratings of impairment and disability and were assessed for organic pathology and pain behavior through comprehensive testing procedures. As predicted, higher ratings of impairment and disability were significantly associated with higher levels of both physical pathology and pain behaviors. These results indicate that conditioning and pathologic processes significantly influence impairment and disability ratings. Many patients showed higher disability than impairment ratings, which suggests the possibility of gainful employment in less demanding jobs. However, the current disability system rewards sickness and dysfunction and discourages patients from resuming work.

Adult