Bridget Dibb

Introduction: The rising issue of dependence to prescribed pain medication for patients with chronic pain has been highlighted in the literature ; however, there is a dearth of research exploring the patient perspective of this dependence in the United Kingdom (UK). This exploratory qualitative study aimed to investigate experiences of prescribed analgesic dependence in patients with chronic pain in the UK. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine UK-based participants (eight females, one male) with a mean age of 44, who experienced chronic pain and identified as dependent to their prescribed pain medication. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and the data analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Three main themes emerged, including perceptions of dependence, interactions with others, and interactions with medical professionals. The findings revealed how the

Introduction Previous research has suggested that complications stemming from vaginal mesh can lead to life-changing negative physical consequences including erosion and chronic pain. However, there has been little research on the experiences of women who have had complications. This study was aimed at exploring the individual experiences of women who have had vaginal mesh complications and how this has impacted them. Methods An explorative qualitative design was followed. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with women who had experienced complications with vaginal mesh due to stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. The mean age was 52 and the mean time since the mesh was fitted was 8 years (6 had since had it removed and a further 6 had had partial removal), and the mean time since first mesh-related symptom was 10 months. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Four main themes were identified: perceived impact of mesh complications, attitudes of medical professionals, social support and positive growth. Results showed that participant experiences of their mesh complication were psychologically traumatic, including feelings of increased anxiety and fears relating to suicidal thoughts. Intimate relationships were also affected, with reduced sexual functioning and intimacy stemming from mesh complications. Negative experiences with medical professionals included feeling dismissed, a lack of recognition of their symptoms, and anger towards the profession. Conclusions The impacts of vaginal mesh complications were found to be wide-reaching and life-changing, affecting numerous aspects of participants' lives. Greater awareness in this area is needed to provide further support for women experiencing vaginal mesh complications. Keywords Vaginal mesh implants · Attitudes of the medical profession · Loss of sexual intimacy · Pain · Personal growth · Support · Qualitative

Objective
Most current Misophonia scales are not validated, do not include both emotional and physiological responses to triggers, and/or focus only on auditory triggers. This research aimed to develop and validate a measure of the magnitude of the Misophonic response that addressed these omissions.

Method
Three studies were carried out with individuals with self-diagnosed Misophonia. In study 1, expert opinion and participants commented on initial items to determine both face and content validity. In study 2, scale structure, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity were determined using correlations, principal component analysis (PCA), and reliability analysis. In study 3, factor structure was confirmed in another sample of participants using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Results
The final 22-item scale assesses the magnitude of responses to triggers across any sensory modality. There are three subscales (emotional, physiological, and participation in life), with three additional items measuring frequency of triggers, avoidance of triggers, and time taken to recover from the triggers. The final scale showed suitable discriminant and convergent validity, with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas range 0.77 to 0.89). The three-component solution extracted using PCA explained 53.97% of variance, with all items loading between 0.45 and 0.84. The structure was confirmed with CFA (χ2 = 269.01, p < .001; CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.96 and RMSEA = 0.045 (CI 0.037–0.053).

Conclusion
The Misophonia Response Scale, which is valid and reliable, will facilitate understanding of Misophonia as it is short and easy to use for self-report in research.

Purpose: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) can beis effective in assisting physical and psychosocial difficulties experienced by people with spinal cord injury. However, the Pperceived benefits and barriers of the current and future use of FES within the wider spinal cord injury community is currently unknown. The main objective of this research was to explore the spinal cord injury community’s views of the use of FES to decrease disability in rehabilitation programmes.
Materials and methods: An online and paper survey questionnaire was distributed to people with spinal cord injury, health care professionals and researchers working in the field of FES and spinal cord injury settings in the United Kingdom.
Results: A total of 299 participants completed the survey (152 people with spinal cord injury, 141 health care professionals and 6 researchers). Common views between groups identified were: (1) functional electrical stimulationFES can bewas beneficial in improving physical and psychosocial aspects and that (2) adequate support and training for FES application was provided to users. Barriers to FES use included a lack of staff time and training, financial cost and availability of the equipment. Sixty three percent of non-users felt they would use functional electrical stimulationFES in the future if they had the opportunity.
Conclusions: Users’ views were important in identifying that FES application can bethe beneficialits and for people with spinal cord injury but also has some resourceful barriers of functional electrical stimulation application. In order to increase use, future research should focus on reductingon the cost of the FES clinical service by identifying responders to FES and also address implementation of awareness and training programmes within spinal units and community rehabilitation settings.