Newsletter Autumn Winter 2023 Final (24) - Flipbook - Page 10
Your Time in
tothe
Shine
Researchers
Limelight
Danielle Mountain
PhD researcher in Health Psychology and Medicine
University of Manchester.
As a psychologist, she is keen to understand how recent developments
in pain science can be applied to improve our understanding and
treatments for chronic musculoskeletal pain in children and young people
with long-term health conditions, such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis, hypermobility, and
chronic idiopathic pain syndromes.
Danielle achieved a good grounding in pain research prior to starting her PhD. Her
dissertations in her undergraduate degree (at the University of Liverpool leading to a 1st class
degree) and postgraduate degree (at the University of Manchester leading to a distinction)
were both studies of pain. She was delighted to be able to build on this knowledge in a PhD
programme funded by the Pain Relief Foundation. She is based jointly at the Centre for
Musculoskeletal Research and the Centre for Health Psychology the University of Manchester.
Danielle9s PhD involves an in-depth investigation of how children and young people with
chronic musculoskeletal conditions understand their pain, what their beliefs are, and how
those around them (such as healthcare practitioners) respond to their pain. She is particularly
interested in the similarities and differences in pain experiences. between those with
inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions (e.g. juvenile idiopathic arthritis), versus those with
non-inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions (e.g. hypermobility or musculoskeletal pain
conditions arising from no known cause).
Danielle has worked closely with children and young people with lived experiences of paediatric
pain as well as with their parents who have advised on the aims of the studies as well as the
best methods to use, including working with members of Your Rheum, a young person9s
research advisory group. This approach ensures that all of her studies and findings are informed
by those with direct experience.
Danielle has presented this important work at national and international conferences where she
shared her findings with healthcare professionals and other researchers.
• The International Symposium of Pediatric Pain (online, New Zealand)
• The Division of Health Psychology (Bristol)
• The European Health Psychology Society (Slovakia)
• The International Association for the Study of Pain World Congress (Canada)
Danielle was also invited to a research visit at a world-leading paediatric pain lab in Toronto,
called the iOUCH lab.
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