Dr Nicole Andrews
Research Fellow, RECOVER Injury Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Australia
Dr Andrews is a clinical researcher based in Brisbane, Australia. She has over 15 years of clinical experience working with people with persistent pain, as an occupational therapist, and is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at RECOVER Injury Research Centre, The University of Queensland. Her research has increased our understanding of the relationship between pain, activity and daily function in chronic pain populations and led to the development of an innovative award-winning mobile health platform called Pain ROADMAP. Nicole’s research continues to focus on the development, use and evaluation of innovative and cutting-edge technology solutions to improve the management of a variety of health conditions, including acute and persistent pain.
|
The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging within behaviour change research including the pain field. While AI offers significant potential to improve accessibility and quality of care, the technology is still viewed as untrustworthy by many. This talk will take a deep dive into research exploring consumer perspectives of AI and technology solutions for persistent pain management. By doing so, this presentation will improve your understanding of what technology solutions people with pain want, how these solutions can be ethically developed and strategies that can be used to address barriers to adoption.
Overactivity in Chronic Pain: What Is It, Why Does It Matter and How Can We Help People to Adapt?
Overactivity (activity engagement that severely exacerbate pain) has gain more empirical attention in the last decade. Habitual overactivity behaviour (commonly referred to as boom bust) is accepted clinically as a behaviour that adversely affects an individual's daily functioning and is the target of one of the most widely endorsed pain management strategies among health professionals (i.e. activity pacing). However, very few studies have demonstrated that activity pacing education results in effective behaviour change. The aim of this presentation is to provide a comprehensive overview of the overactivity construct and the impact of this behaviour on daily function. The presentation will present the current level of evidence for activity pacing interventions and introduce are more holistic treatment approach targeting daily routines to help people who are habitually overactive stabilise their pain levels and achieve functional goals.