Chronic Pain Diagnosis and Treatment in Torture Survivors

Launched by WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY · Nov 11, 2020

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is focused on understanding and improving how we diagnose and treat chronic pain in individuals who have survived torture. The researchers believe that by using a special pain questionnaire alongside existing guidelines from the United Nations, they can detect pain more effectively in these survivors—raising the detection rate from 15% to as high as 90%. They will also conduct interviews to learn how acceptable pain treatments are to these individuals and explore how easy it is to enroll and keep people in a digital pain management program over six months.

To be eligible for the trial, participants must be at least 18 years old, have survived torture as defined by the World Medical Association, and be willing to be contacted by the research team. Those with chronic pain will be included in the later stages of the study. Participants should have a personal smartphone for the digital program, and it’s important to note that non-tortured refugees seeking asylum or pregnant women are not eligible. If you join this trial, you can expect to share your experiences and help improve the understanding and treatment of chronic pain for torture survivors.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• • (Aim 1)
• Inclusion Criteria:
• • ≥ 18 years old
• • Survived torture as defined by the World Medical Association
• • Consented to being contacted by our research team
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Non-tortured refugees seeking asylum through T visas (trafficking), U visas (victims of violence in the US), Violence Against Women Act (VAMA), and Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ)
• • Pregnant women
• • (Aim 2)
• Inclusion Criteria:
• • ≥ 18 years old
• • Survived torture as defined by the World Medical Association
• • Chronic pain as per Aim 1 findings
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Non-tortured refugees seeking asylum through T visas (trafficking), U visas (victims of violence in the US), Violence Against Women Act (VAMA), and Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ)
• • Pregnant women
• • (Aim 3): Inclusion Criteria
• • ≥ 18 years old
• • Survived torture as defined by the World Medical Association
• • Chronic pain as per Aim 1 findings
• • Personal smartphone
• • Exclusion Criteria
• • Non-tortured refugees seeking asylum through T visas (trafficking), U visas (victims of violence in the US), Violence Against Women Act (VAMA), and Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ)
• • Pregnant women
• • Planned move within 6 months