PY4PIL: The Psychology of Pain and Ill-Health

Module code: PY4PIL

Module provider: Psychology; School of Psych and Clin Lang Sci

Credits: 20

Level: Level 4 (Undergraduate Masters)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Wiebke Gandhi, email: w.gandhi@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Rich Harrison, email: rich.harrison@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 11 November 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

What has psychology got to do with pain?  

In this module, you will explore:

1. How pain is changed by emotions, motivations, thoughts, and social factors.  
2. How important psychology is for the development of chronic pain. 
3. About stigma that chronic pain patients deal with, and how this has changed throughout the last decades due to scientific discoveries. 
4. How living with pain can lead to depression and anxiety. 
5. How to strengthen psychological resilience to manage living with chronic pain. 

You will apply a range of skills including presenting research data/pain-relevant theories and to critically evaluate research findings and clinical (non-pharmacological) management options within the field of pain. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Critically evaluate and communicate research and theoretical perspectives from different fields of psychology applied to concepts to topics in (chronic) pain. 
2. Illustrate evidence-based reasoning to argue for/against psychological approaches to manage chronic ill health, keeping individual differences/patient-centred care in mind, and critically evaluate their claims. 
3. Critically discuss different models and theories of chronic illness and how they changed throughout history. 

Module content

Interactive lectures and seminars will be used to explore the neurophysiology of pain and how pain and psychological factors influence each other. We will critically evaluate research examining pain as a multifaceted experience and will analyse some of the dominant theories within the field. We will also learn about chronic pain, focussing especially on chronic primary pain conditions (such as Fibromyalgia). Areas such as basal psychological mechanisms underlying the development of pain and depression (as pain’s most common comorbidity), neuropathology/biomarkers of pain, clinical characteristics, affective comorbidities, management issues, psychological treatment approaches, emerging experimental options, and practical aspects of clinical patient work will be covered. Lastly, we will explore stigma/discrimination, which chronic pain patients often have to deal with, and how stigma/society’s views on chronic pain have changed throughout history due to new scientific advances within the pain field. 

Content of this seminar will span the BPS core areas of biological, cognitive and social psychology, individual differences, , and conceptual and historical issues in psychology 

The seminars will give students an opportunity to consolidate and enhance their knowledge, understanding and analysis of the module content and will help to prepare them for the summative assessments.  

Students will gain experience of participating in evaluative discussions of research, theory and clinical implications in large and small groups. They will also gain practical experience of experimental pain testing and pain modulation. The module additionally provides an opportunity for students to improve their critical thinking skills, their ability to construct an argument, and their ability to interact and work in teams to explore and evaluate content. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module will include a variety of learning methods, including interactive lectures and seminars incorporating practical activities. Students will discuss topics related to the psychology of pain and its comorbidities in small groups during the in-person seminars. Subsequently, they will develop group reports outside of the classroom, using for instance Microsoft co-authoring tools. Further, students will be asked to answer pre-session questions after watching screencasts. To further develop critical thinking, in-class polls will be performed, requiring the student to respond to questions and discuss them within small groups. Discussions can then be continued outside of the classroom in the discussion board. 

Students will also be expected to undertake independent reading, using the curated online reading lists, to prepare for the coursework assessments. 

Study hours

At least 31 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Formative activities will prepare students well for summative assessment. 

Reassessment

Additional costs