The Topic

The experience of low back pain is associated with an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and social environment. The following case describes John, a 40 year old Meeanjin man who presented to a chiropractic clinic with persistent low back pain and associated depression.

Introducing John

John, 40 years old and a Meeanjin man, lives in Brisbane. He presented to a local chiropractor for help regarding his persistent low back pain. During the history, it was revealed that John’s back pain had been present for more than 10 years, after a motor vehicle accident. John was a keen rugby player and could not return to sport due to the injury. As such, John developed ongoing depression and he reported during times of intense sadness, his back pain would become worse.

Your Task

Based on John’s case, your task is to review the empirical evidence regarding the relationship between depression and chronic pain. In addition, outline how psychological therapy may improve John’s symptoms.

Assessment format

• Title page including essay title, full name, student number, and word count
• 1000 words maximum (not including title page and reference list)
• 12pt Times New Roman font
• Double-spaced
• 2.54cm margins
• APA 7th Edition referencing and formatting style (https://delivery-cqucontenthub.stylelabs.cloud/api/public/content/apa-referencing-style.pdf?v=51e1aea7)

Starter references

Bair, M. J., Robinson, R. L., Katon, W., & Kroenke, K. (2003). Depression and Pain Comorbidity: A Literature Review. Archives of Internal Medicine, 163(20), 2433-2445. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.163.20.2433

Campbell, L. C., Clauw, D. J., & Keefe, F. J. (2003). Persistent pain and depression: a biopsychosocial perspective. Biological Psychiatry, 54(3), 399-409. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(03)00545-6

Lin, I., O'Sullivan, P., Coffin, J., Mak, D., Toussaint, S., & Straker, L. (2012). ‘I am absolutely shattered’: The impact of chronic low back pain on Australian Aboriginal people. European Journal of Pain, 16(9), 1331-1341.https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1532-2149.2012.00128.x

Eccleston, C., Morley, S. J., & Williams, A. C. d. C. (2013). Psychological approaches to chronic pain management: evidence and challenges. BJA: British Journal of Anaesthesia, 111(1), 59-63. https://doi.org/10.1093/bja/aet207

You will be assessed on your essay writing skills to logically organize and present ideas and arguments with clarity of expression, correct grammar and spelling. All work submitted must be your own original work and appropriately referenced. You will demonstrate an understanding of topics and unit material relevant to the assessment task. You will use the APA 7th Edition style of referencing for in-text as well as your scholarly list that is correctly formatted. A detailed rubric and guidance information will be available on Moodle.

The task associated with this assessment item is to complete the online quizzes during the term on the unit's Moodle website. These quizzes will be available in Weeks 4, 8 and 12 and each quiz will test the student's knowledge of unit material for the previous weeks.

Each quiz will consist of twenty (20) questions that are randomly selected from a question bank. Each quiz will be worth 10% of the total grade for the unit and the complete assessment of three (3) quizzes will be worth 30% of the total grade. Feedback will be given to students after each quiz to enhance their mental health literacy.

Points to note:

Students will be allowed (1) one attempt at each quiz.

There will be a time limit on quizzes.

Students are encouraged to refer to the unit materials in order to obtain as many correct answers as possible.

If students have technical problems with the quiz, they should contact the unit coordinator or TASAC as soon as possible.

Refer to your Moodle site for further details.

You will be required to complete a series of open book online quizzes across the term, that will assist you with improving your mental health literacy. You will demonstrate through answering the online quiz questions an ability to recognize indications, that a person might be experiencing mental health challenges from an inclusive and cross cultural perspective.

You are marked according to the number of correct responses for each quiz

In this assessment, you will select one of the weekly topics covered in the unit and create a one-page, single-sided (A4 size) infographic based on the most up-to-date published evidence. This infographic should be created with the specific aim to be used in the outpatient clinic as a patient resource. The infographic should be submitted to Moodle as a high-resolution PDF file

What is an infographic? Infographics are visual representations of information, data, or knowledge. They’re can also visualise understanding of concepts and explain processes.

Key steps in developing an infographic:

1. Choose a psychological disorder from one of the weekly topics covered in the unit.

2. Locate peer reviewed evidence related to the chosen topic. This will include the following:

§ Aetiology

§ Epidemiology

§ Diagnostic criteria according to DSM-V.

§ Clinical presentation § Treatment (e.g. therapies and medications)

§ Management of the condition to help develop a better understanding in which health care professionals are best able to serve the community.

§ Any cultural accommodations to be aware of with the condition.

3. Using the located evidence from point 2, create a single sided (A4 page) infographic. Consider the below points.

§ Provide accurate, detailed, and well-researched information, which is presented and supports the chosen disorder.

§ Ensure all content (visuals & text) are intentional and complementary to the purpose of the infographic.

§ Colours, fonts, graphics, and data visualisation effectively contribute to the topic and message being conveyed.

§ The infographic effectively informs the audience of its intended purpose.

§ Information is systematically organised and effectively aligns with the main message.

§ Full APA citations are included for all sources of information referenced.

§ The infographic is free of spelling and grammatical errors.

4. Use software applications such as PowerPoint to create infographic. Other software such as Canva may be used

The criteria for this assessment will include;

• Overall task completion
• Language & grammar
• Referencing & the use of additional external references or resources
• General composition and overall written presentation

A detailed rubric will be available on Moodle.