Date of Award
2019
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
With the increased focus on the "Opiate Epidemic" and prescription drug practices, there has been increased conversation in regard to improving the way physicians assess and treat chronic pain. Little empirical research has been devoted to developing formal assessment techniques which address the unique challenge of assessing pain in a primary care setting. The current study explores the effectiveness of commonly used physical and mental health self-report measures in detecting malingered chronic pain and drug-seeking in a health care setting. Moreover, the study compared individuals with and without formal chronic pain diagnoses or a history of chronic pain treatment. Ninety-seven chronic pain patients and ninety-one college students participated in this study and were assigned to an honest responders or a simulation group. Those that were assigned to the simulation group reported increased pain severity and disability compared to chronic pain patients honest responders. Additionally, traditional medico-legal measures demonstrated variable success at distinguishing simulators and honest responders. Simulators also endorsed more risk factors for potential opiate-based medication abuse, and more symptoms of depression and anxiety. It was expected that knowledge of chronic pain and familiarity with many of the study's measures would result in a more sophisticated response style when asked to simulate drug-seeking behavior. This was not the case, and on some measures, chronic pain patients in the simulation group displayed more overt patterns of malingering than student responders who were assumed to be less educated about pain. The concept of this study was formulated based on prior research on malingered neuropsychological disorders and medico-legal disability evaluations, and attempted to fill a gap in the research on the assessment of feigned chronic pain in medical settings. This will help further develop methods which increase the effectiveness of assessing chronic pain symptoms in medical settings. As there is more of a push for improved assessment and treatment of chronic pain conditions, this area of research will continue to be important in the future.
Recommended Citation
Seybert-Williams, Ande J., "The Effectiveness Of Brief Measures In Screening For Malingered Chronic Pain In A Primary Care Setting" (2019). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1742.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/1742