Projects

[ Selected Active Projects ]

Project: Culture, language, and pain communication among medical providers: A Qualitative Analysis (Dr. Kim and Lab Members)

The project aims to examine the intersection of culture and language in pain communication among three groups of healthcare providers (i.e., physicians, physical therapist, and nurse) and their experiences when working with patients from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Project: College Students’ Pain Experience and Pain Medication Attitudes: A Mixed Methods Exploration (Dr. Kim and Lab Members)

"I feel exhausted, helpless, and vulnerable" - This is one of the common themes that emerged from our interviews with TTU students about their experiences with chronic pain. Chronic pain among college students is still an understudied area in pain and health psychology. The current project utilized the mixed method approach to study college students' pain experience, communication, coping styles, and attitudes towards pain medications.

Project: “I can’t think in English when I hurt so bad”: The phenomenology of ethnic and linguistic minority chronic pain patients’ experience with pain communication (Dr. Kim and Lab Members)

Even though the communication between providers and patients is the heart of the practice of medicine, especially in chronic pain care, language barriers could profoundly hinder such process.
Taking the phenomenological approach, the current study aims to explore the lived experience of ethnic and linguistic minority chronic pain patients’ with pain communication.

Discrimination and Pain.

Discrimination hurts! Studies have found little distinction between social and physical pain, and social pain like discrimination is detrimental to people's health and well-being.

Within this area of research, Dr. Kim and the graduate students are leading multiple on-going projects examining different forms of discrimination, their effects on health and pain-related outcomes, as well as protective factors that may buffer against the adverse effects of discrimination.


  • Dr. Kim:

Intersectional Experiences of Ethnic Discrimination and Chronic Pain Stigma: Development of a Typology of Ethnic Minorities with Chronic Pain (Kim, S.Y., and the KIM Lab Members)

The Intersection of Daily Discrimination and Pain Injustice among ethnic minority chronic pain patients: A latent profile approach (Kim, S.Y., Lee, J., & Mathai, B)

Daily associations between cortisol and physical symptoms among chronic pain patients with daily discrimination experience: A parallel latent growth curve modeling approach (Kim, S.Y., Oh, W, and the KIM Lab Members)


  • Hannah Yoo (Graduate Student)

Discrimination and Chronic Pain Among Asian Americans: Does Social Support Play a Role? (Yoo, H., & Kim, S.Y.)


  • Nguyen Nguyen (Graduate Student)

Workplace Discrimination among Midlife Adults with Chronic Pain: The Longitudinal Buffering Effect of Work-to-Family Enrichment (Nguyen, P., Kim, S.Y., & Yoo, H.)


[ Other Projects ]

Single Session Pain Psychology Class: A Pilot Study to Reduce Opioid Use among Chronic Pain Patients in Lubbock County (Kim, S.Y. and KIM Lab Members)

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Linguistic patterns of chronic pain patients’ stigma and pain communication: A mixed methods study (Kim, S.Y., Ireland, M., and the KIM Lab Members)


Language and Cultural Barriers in Pain Communication among Asian and Latinx Immigrants with Chronic Pain (Kim, S.Y. & Nguyen, N)


Test of a Social Cognitive Model of Opioid Misuse among Chronic Pain Patients: The Role of Cultural Syndromes (Kim, S.Y., Park, S.Y., Mathai. B., Daheim, J., France, C. & Delgado, B)


Diurnal Cortisol Profiles Among People with Chronic Pain and their associations with Work, Family and Work-Family Spillover (Kim, S.Y., Iserman, M., Daheim, J., & Almeida, D)

[ Selected Graduate Students Leading Projects ]

Men, Chronic Pain, and Risk of Opioid Abuse: The Role of Conformity to Masculine Norms (Jacob Daheim)


Comparative Benefits of Physical Activity and Mindfulness on the Effects of Negative Work-Family Spillover on Life Dissatisfaction (Jacob Daheim)


Pain Medication Attitudes Questionnaire and Conformity to Masculine Norms on Men’s Risk of Abusing Opioids in Chronic Pain (Jacob Daheim)


Measurement Invariance of Pain Injustice Scale (Jacob Daheim)


"I feel ashamed of my broken English" - The Mixed Method Approach to Understand the Experiences of College Students Who Speak with a Non-Native English Accent (Nguyen Nguyen)


Internalizing Symptoms among Asian American Language Brokers: The Moderating Role of Values Enculturation (Nguyen Nguyen)


Work-to-Family Conflict and Pain among Midlife Adults with Chronic Pain: A Longitudinal Serial Mediation via Perceived Family Strain and Loneliness (Nguyen Nguyen)