Kashikar-Zuck Lab Research
Behavioral Pain Management Research
Susmita Kashikar-Zuck, PhD, directs the Behavioral Pain Management Research Laboratory at Cincinnati Children’s. The research team is composed of behavioral medicine faculty, fellows, residents and research assistants who are interested in the field of pediatric pain management.
The focus of our lab is to study:
- Chronic pain in children and adolescents
- The best ways to assess pediatric pain
- The impact of pain on physical and psychosocial functioning
- How children cope with pain
- How to develop evidence-based treatments for chronic pain
- How to disseminate evidence-based treatments using quality-improvement methods
Current research projects include:
- A randomized clinical trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for juvenile fibromyalgia syndrome
- A longitudinal follow-up study of adolescents with juvenile fibromyalgia to assess their outcomes in young adulthood
- Development and validation of subjective measures of pain and pain behavior in children and adolescents
- Development of objective measures of pain sensitivity and assessment of physical activity in children with chronic pain
Students, residents and fellows receive training in implementing large funded research studies, scientific writing, conducting critical reviews of the literature, statistical analysis, presentation skills and grant preparation. Residents and fellows also receive training in behavioral pain management therapies including biofeedback and cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Research projects are multidisciplinary, and lab members collaborate closely with investigators in the Division of Rheumatology and Division of Pain Management.
