# A Mixed Method Study on Ethnicity-Specific Physical Pain Among Older Women

> **NIH NIH SC3** · CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE · 2020 · $108,750

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The main goal of the proposed SC3 research is to improve the rigor of our laboratory’s current SC3 research
on pain in mainly low-income older women. We will collect a sample of the same size and ethnic composition
as that of the current grant, but will use a mixed method approach. This will allow us to go beyond the mere
quantification of pain intensity -- which is a typical shortcoming of most of the pain literature -- by studying
pain context factors both qualitatively and quantitatively. The outcomes of this research will help fill a gap in
the ethnogeriatric literature. Management of pain in older age is a major health challenge that is a top NIH
research priority. This is especially the case regarding pain care disparities, which NIH has urged to
investigate a) within specific racial and ethnic groups as well as b) among older adults (Institute of Medicine,
2011), as we plan on doing in this study. Innovatively, we developed our own questions to best measure pain
context factors via both open-ended qualitative and Likert-type scale items. Some of them were adapted by
the PI from the classic Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (2004) guidelines on
best practices for pain assessment and pain medication treatment, undertreatment, and overtreatment. In
addition to being based on a review of the literature, other items were based on the PI’s in-person
consultations with the American Pain Society’s former president and with medical doctors and nurses
belonging to this professional organization. Using the empirically-supported inclusion criterion of experiencing
pain within the past 4 weeks, we plan to: create pain profiles based on the entire sample (N=300), with 100
African-American, 100 Hispanic-American, and 100 European-American older women in Aim 1; identify
ethnicity-specific pain profile differences, find ethnicity-specific reasons for these differences, and create
ethnicity-specific pain profiles in Aim 2; as well as investigate the relationship of ethnicity-specific pain profiles
with empirically validated pain-related quantitative variables in Aim 3. Measurements will include: a
demographics list, a well-established and medically-focused pain questionnaire, the aforementioned new
pool of pain context items, as well as quantitative measures of daily minor cognitive failures, non-medical
stress, PTSD symptomatology, and depressive symptomatology.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9856201
- **Project number:** 2SC3GM094075-09
- **Recipient organization:** CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE
- **Principal Investigator:** LUCIANA LAGANA
- **Activity code:** SC3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $108,750
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2010-07-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9856201

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9856201, A Mixed Method Study on Ethnicity-Specific Physical Pain Among Older Women (2SC3GM094075-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9856201. Licensed CC0.

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