Pain Care for People with Learning and Developmental Disabilities

The Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory is hosting a workshop on pain care for people with learning and developmental disabilities on 17th June from 09.30-12.30. We are delighted to welcome international specialists to the University of Glasgow to talk about their research in the field of pain and learning disabilities.
Registration is now open via Bookitbee.

On the day we will hear from (in alphabetical order): 

Dr Chantel Burkitt on Practical approaches for pain assessment. 

Chantel Burkitt, PhD, is a Senior Clinical Scientist at Gillette Children’s Hospital, a tertiary medical centre dedicated to caring for people with childhood-onset developmental disabilities, in St. Paul Minnesota, USA. She co-directs the Pain & Comfort Research Lab. Her research focuses on advancing pain detection, testing innovative pain management strategies, including virtual reality, and understanding perioperative pain trajectories associated with orthopaedic surgery in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Professor Brian McGuire on Accessible psychotherapy for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities 

Brian McGuire, PhD, is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and Co-Director of the Centre for Pain Research at University of Galway in Ireland. He established the Clinical Psychology Training Programme in Galway in 2003 and a Top-Up Doctorate programme in 2012. He has a long-standing interest in both his research and his clinical work on the psychological aspects and impacts of chronic physical illness, particularly chronic pain. Having worked clinically for many years in intellectual disability services, he merged his interests in pain and intellectual disability and this is now his special focus. In his talk he will describe his work on teaching pain communication skills to children with autism and his work in developing a cognitive-behavioural programme for management of chronic pain, specifically for people with an intellectual disability or autism.

Dr Tim Oberlander on Medical management of pain in children and young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Tim Oberlander is a Developmental Paediatrician and pain physician at BC Children's Hospital (BCCH) in Vancouver Canada. Oberlander has a particular interest in managing pain in children and youth with developmental disabilities. As a scientist he has studied acute pain reactivity in youth with cerebral palsy and behavioral acute pain responses among children with autism. For the past 4 years he has co-led, with his colleague, Dr. Katelynn Beorner, the Living Lab at Home (LLAH) research program at BCCH which offers an opportunity for children and their families to co-design a platform for in-home real world data collection. This novel platform offers an invaluable approach to understanding complex phenomenon, like chronic pain in children with developmental disabilities. In his talk, Dr. Oberlander will offer a practical approach to medical aspects for pain management for children and youth with a developmental disability. 

Christine Pacitti on Inequalities in pain related medication use in adults with learning disabilities. 

Christine is a doctoral student with research interests in health inequality, inclusive research, and optimising health care and prescribing for adults with learning disabilities. Her PhD research is examining the treatment of pain and painful conditions experienced by adults with learning disability focusing on any health inequality that may emerge from this project. Christine is a clinical pharmacist, with expertise in mental health, and has practiced professionally within community, hospital and mental health settings. Prior to commencing her doctoral studies, Christine worked within NHS learning disability psychiatry multi-disciplinary teams providing support with medication for people with learning disability and complex health needs. Christine is an experienced carer of a family member with learning disabilities and complex health needs.

Professor Frank Symons on History and Advances in pain and intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Frank Symons, PhD, is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. His program of research includes a focus across the lifespan on self-injury and pain among individuals living with intellectual and developmental disability. He will provide a short historical and contemporary overview of some of the recurring conceptual and practical issues facing the pain research and practice community providing support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disability.

Speaker Panel

Following the presentations there will be a speaker panel moderated by Dr, David Moore and Professor Andrew Jahoda. 

Dr David Moore 

David Moore is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Pain Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. David has an interest in neurodivergent populations experiences of pain and pain management.
Within this he employs both neuroscientific methods to understand the mechanisms of pain in neurodivergent people as well as work to understand the barriers to engagement with healthcare services for the management of pain. David employs a co-production ethos to his research and is a pain adviser to the SEDS connective charity. David will talk about some of the methods that can be used to work alongside neurodivergent people to both improve research and clinical practice around pain. 

Professor Andrew Jahoda 

Andrew Jahoda is Professor of Learning Disabilities in the School of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. He also has an honorary position as a consultant clinical psychologist with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. His research interests concern the mental health and wellbeing of people with intellectual disabilities. This includes work about the impact of stigma and ways of promoting inclusion. Another strand of research is about adapting psychological therapies like CBT and behavioural activation for people with learning disabilities, to make them more accessible and sensitive to people’s lived experience. 

Please register via Bookitbee. If you have any questions about this event, please email Karen.Lindsay@glasgow.ac.uk