Resilience Skills Self-Management for Chronic Pain.

The Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire-Revised (FIQR) assesses the total spectrum of problems and responses to therapy. The 2009 revised version contains 21 items assessing broad domains such as physical function, overall impact, and a wide range of symptoms. The measure is self-report with a recall period of the past week and requires only several minutes to complete.

The BPI is a 15-item self-report measure that has been validated for use in a wide variety of pain states. The BPI assesses for the presence of pain, pain intensity (i.e., worst, least, average, current) and functional interference from pain.

The PSQI is a widely used, valid and reliable measure of global sleep quality and sleep-related symptoms.149 The 19-items yield 7 component-scores that reflect common sleep problems such as subjective sleep quality, sleep disturbance and use of sleep medication.

The PROMIS Fatigue-Short Form consists of 8 items that assess the impact and experience of fatigue in the past week. It uses a 5-point Likert-like scale with response options that range from "Not at all" to "Very much." A raw score is calculated by summing scores across items then a conversion table is used to calculate T-scores with higher scores indicating greater fatigue.

The MISCI is a 10-item measure based upon items developed for PROMIS that assesses perceived difficulties within 5 domains: mental clarity, memory, language, executive functioning, and attention/concentration.

Subjective well-being has at least three components: positive affective appraisal, negative affective appraisal, and life satisfaction. Composite scores for well-being will be calculated using scores obtained on Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS).

. Catastrophizing will be measured using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS).144 The PCS contains 13 statements regarding various beliefs about pain. A total score is obtained by summing the responses to all items.

The PHQ-9 is a 9-item multipurpose instrument that has utility for screening, diagnosing, monitoring, and measuring the severity of depression.

The GAD-7 is a 7-item measure of anxiety. It has good reliability, criterion, construct, and factorial validity. It has a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 82% for generalized anxiety disorder.

The 10-item PSS will be used evaluate an individual's assessment of stress. Participants rate stress on a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10 where higher scores reflect higher levels of stress. Total scores range from 0 to 100.

The 6MWT measures the distance a participant is able to walk over a total of six minutes on a hard, flat surface. Participants are instructed to walk as far as possible, but allowed to self-pace and rest as needed.

Patients are instructed to stand up 5 times from a chair without arms as fast as possible. The test is repeated twice as this improves reliability. Average time is calculated in seconds.

The Blackburn lab collaborated with Biorad to develop a highly sensitive, quantitative and high throughput droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) method to measure telomerase activity in unstimulated PBMCs. This new method has over 10-fold increased sensitivity and over 5-fold increased throughput compared to the currently used gel method.

The DNA will then be analyzed for telomere length using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) measurement assay adapted from the methods described by Cawthon with modifications by Lin (Co-I).