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2.
Pain Res Manag ; 17(6): 381-4, 2012.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-23248809

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Evidence of inadequate pain treatment as a result of patient race has been extensively documented, yet remains poorly understood. Previous research has indicated that nonwhite patients are significantly more likely to be undertreated for pain. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether previous findings of racial biases in pain treatment recommendations and empathy are generalizable to a sample of Canadian observers and, if so, to determine whether empathy biases mediate the pain treatment disparity. METHODS: Fifty Canadian undergraduate students (24 men and 26 women) watched videos of black and white patients exhibiting facial expressions of pain. Participants provided pain treatment decisions and reported their feelings of empathy for each patient. RESULTS: Participants demonstrated both a prowhite treatment bias and a prowhite empathy bias, reporting more empathy for white patients than black patients and prescribing more pain treatment for white patients than black patients. Empathy was found to mediate the effect of race on pain treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study closely replicate those from a previous study of American observers, providing evidence that a prowhite bias is not a peculiar feature of the American population. These results also add support to the claim that empathy plays a crucial role in racial pain treatment disparity.


Subject(s)
Empathy , Pain Management , Pain/psychology , Racial Groups/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Canada/epidemiology , Canada/ethnology , Facial Expression , Female , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests , Pain/epidemiology , Pain/ethnology , Personality Inventory , Photic Stimulation , Young Adult
3.
Pain ; 152(5): 1001-1006, 2011 May.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-21277087

ABSTRACT

Epidemiological evidence indicates that African Americans receive lower quality pain treatment than European Americans. However, the factors causing these disparities remain unidentified, and solutions to this problem remain elusive. Across three laboratory experiments, we examined the hypotheses that empathy is not only causing pain treatment disparities but that empathy-inducing interventions can reduce these disparities. Undergraduates (Experiments 1 and 2) and nursing professionals (Experiment 3) watched videos of real Black and White patients' genuine facial expressions of pain, provided pain treatment decisions, and reported their feelings of empathy for each patient. The efficacy of an empathy-inducing, perspective-taking intervention at reducing pain treatment disparities was also examined (Experiments 2 and 3). When instructed to attempt to provide patients with the best care, participants exhibited significant pro-White pain treatment biases. However, participants engaged in an empathy-inducing, perspective-taking intervention that instructed them to imagine how patients' pain affected patients' lives exhibited upwards of a 55% reduction in pain treatment bias in comparison to controls. Furthermore, Pro-White empathy biases were highly predictive of pro-White pain treatment biases. The magnitude of the empathy bias experienced predicted the magnitude of the treatment bias exhibited. These findings suggest that empathy plays a crucial role in racial pain treatment disparities in that it appears not only to be one likely cause of pain treatment disparities but also is an important means for reducing racial disparities in pain treatment.


Subject(s)
Empathy , Health Services Accessibility/statistics & numerical data , Pain Management , Pain/psychology , Racial Groups/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Black or African American/statistics & numerical data , Aged , Female , Humans , Individuality , Male , Middle Aged , Pain/epidemiology , Risk Factors , Sex Factors , White People/statistics & numerical data , Young Adult
4.
Psychol Sci ; 18(9): 816-23, 2007 Sep.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-17760779

ABSTRACT

Two studies investigated the psychological underpinnings of racial nonbias, defined as extremely low or null bias on measures of implicit and explicit racial attitudes. In Study 1, racially nonbiased Whites showed differential susceptibility to affective conditioning compared with subjects with greater bias. A significant two-way interaction emerged, indicating that nonbiased individuals were significantly less likely than other individuals to acquire negative affective associations to neutral stimuli in a classical conditioning paradigm, but were more likely than other individuals to acquire positive affective associations to neutral stimuli. This pattern of findings was replicated in Study 2, in which the identification of nonbiased Whites was facilitated by their nomination by an African American acquaintance. Implications for bias formation and prejudice reduction are discussed.


Subject(s)
Affect/physiology , Attitude , Conditioning, Classical/physiology , Prejudice , Racial Groups/psychology , Black or African American/psychology , Analysis of Variance , Black People/psychology , Humans , Inhibition, Psychological , Interpersonal Relations , Predictive Value of Tests , Psychometrics/methods , Psychometrics/statistics & numerical data , Reaction Time/physiology , Students/psychology , White People/psychology
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