The scene:
You are in graduate school, working at a pain clinic for your required internship. You have created a new pain intervention that uses an illusion to decrease pain!
Your job:
To demonstrate the effectiveness of this new treatment, you have been asked to design an experiment that tests your hypothesis. Create a presentation for your internship supervisor that outlines the critical components of your idea. Successful completion of this activity involves the creation of a multimedia presentation (audio or video) to demonstrate your ability to test the effectiveness of your innovative pain intervention.
Please adhere to the guidelines below and answer the following questions in preparation of your presentation:
Use any of the available multimedia presentation software.
Integrate visual artifacts to enhance your presentation.
What is your hypothesis?
Identify the specific pain and whether it’s acute or chronic.
Identify the specific illusion you intend to use to alter the pain.
Explain how the illusion would work.
Discuss certain factors that might impede the success of your experiment.
How likely do you believe your experiment will succeed?
Do you believe using illusions to help with pain management is a better alternative to using opioids? Why/Why not?
https://youtu.be/SYytiQmXNTc
Full Answer Section
Experiment Design:
I will conduct a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of my intervention. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group will receive the illusion intervention, while the control group will receive a sham intervention.
The illusion intervention will involve using a mirror and a virtual reality headset to create the illusion that the painful area is being treated. For example, if a participant is experiencing pain in their hand, I would place a mirror in front of them and project a virtual image of a hand being treated onto the mirror. The participant would then wear a virtual reality headset to view the image.
The sham intervention will involve using a mirror and a virtual reality headset to create the illusion that the painful area is not being treated. For example, if a participant is experiencing pain in their hand, I would place a mirror in front of them and project a virtual image of a hand that is not being treated onto the mirror. The participant would then wear a virtual reality headset to view the image.
Data Collection:
I will collect data on pain intensity, pain interference, and quality of life before and after the intervention. I will also collect data on participants' satisfaction with the intervention.
Analysis:
I will use statistical analysis to compare the outcomes of the intervention group and the control group. If the intervention group experiences a significant reduction in pain intensity, pain interference, or quality of life, compared to the control group, then I will conclude that the intervention is effective.
Visual Artifacts:
I will use the following visual artifacts to enhance my presentation:
- A diagram of the experimental design
- A photo of the mirror and virtual reality headset used in the intervention
- A graph of the results of the experiment
Conclusion:
I believe that this new intervention has the potential to be an effective treatment for both acute and chronic pain. I am excited to test the effectiveness of this intervention in a clinical trial.
Multimedia Presentation:
I will create a multimedia presentation using PowerPoint to demonstrate the effectiveness of my new pain intervention. The presentation will include the following:
- A title slide with my name and the title of the presentation
- A slide with my hypothesis
- A slide with the pain type that I will be testing the intervention on
- A slide with the experimental design
- A slide with the data collection methods
- A slide with the analysis methods
- A slide with the visual artifacts
- A conclusion slide
I will also create a video to demonstrate the intervention. The video will show how to use the mirror and virtual reality headset to create the illusion of pain relief.
I believe that this multimedia presentation will be an effective way to communicate my ideas to my internship supervisor and to other stakeholders.
Sample Answer
The Illusion of Pain Relief: A New Intervention for Acute and Chronic Pain
Presenter: [Your Name]
Hypothesis:
My hypothesis is that an illusion can be used to decrease pain. I believe that by creating an illusion that the painful area is being treated, we can trick the brain into reducing the pain signal.
Pain Type:
I will test the effectiveness of this intervention on both acute and chronic pain. Acute pain is pain that has a sudden onset and lasts for a short period of time, such as the pain from a burn or a cut. Chronic pain is pain that lasts for longer than three months and is often caused by an underlying medical condition, such as arthritis or cancer.