APRIL 2025
Study Tests a New App to Record and Measure Pain
Have you ever been asked to rate your pain on a scale of 0-10? Did you feel like you needed more than a number to communicate how you were really feeling? Researchers studying sickle cell pain in adult patients across the U.S., including at several PaTH sites (University of Pittsburgh, The Ohio State University, Johns Hopkins University) tested whether a different kind of pain reporting technology could give patients an enhanced way to record their pain experience. Their findings were part of the PaTH-led Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Real-time Pain Management Intervention for Sickle Cell via Mobile Applications (CaRISMA) trial.
A digital tool called “Painimation” was used to capture patients’ multi-variable pain data. Patients with sickle cell disease recorded the intensity, location, and quality (like burning, throbbing, or shooting) of their pain using animations and a body image that can be “painted” to communicate various pain features to their provider. The patients also completed questionnaires to help the researchers determine how well the digital tool reports correlated with the impact of pain on the patient’s quality of life.
This study found that the human-centered design of the Painimation app provided more accurate pain measures than a 0-10 scale. Additionally, this app is helpful across language, culture, and age differences and could be used for other chronic pain conditions. In the future, the study team hopes to test whether this technology can help patients communicate their experience with both biological and psychosocial pain.
To read more about the CaRISMA study and Painimation, see the full article here.