Grant: Operating Grant

Pain plays an important part in signaling and preventing tissue damage and warns us about underlying illness. However, pain often reaches proportions beyond its initial function and, once chronic, can be very incapacitating, leading to loss of productivity and quality of life. Accurate evaluation of patients' pain by care providers is crucial for effective pain management. Building on previous research on pain communication, this project merges the expertise of scientists from different disciplines including health care, health psychology and cognitive neuroscience. The objective of the innovative series of studies proposed is to investigate how prolonged exposure to the pain of others changes behavior and the organization of brain functions, and whether such changes affect pain assessment and pain management. Finally, an intervention to improve empathy for pain in care providers and ultimately improve pain management for patients will also be tested. The proposed studies will lead to clinically relevant results that will provide a deeper understanding of the potential underlying causes of pain under-management, and help develop strategies to improve both the patients' and the care providers' well-being.