The Centers Forum at Dartmouth funds proposals for creative programming that address the 2023-2024 theme: _Uncommon Collaborations: Dialogue Across Difference_.

Shirin awarded Centers Forum at Dartmouth Grant 

The [Clinically-Validated Digital Therapeutics: Innovations in Scientific Discovery, Clinical Applications, and Global Deployment](https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2023/10/dartmouth-host-summit-digital-therapeutics) event gathered experts from diverse sectors of the health care industry—researchers, providers, regulators, payers, and investors, as well as representatives from global pharma—to help shape a vision for making digital therapeutics accessible to all.

Shirin & Dylan presented posters at the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health Digital Health Summit

Shirin is traveling to Boston to attend the 7th annual Patient Experience Symposium. The conference brings together leading stakeholders from across healthcare, all to improve patient experience.

Shirin attending the Patient Experience Symposium

Leslie Center Student Research Fellowship offers students a unique opportunity to undertake creative projects at the intersection of humanities and other disciplines.

Shirin awarded Leslie Center for the Humanities Student Research Fellowship

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The focus of this project is on applying a combination of computational natural language processing (NLP) and qualitative thematic analysis to patients’ descriptions of pain. We are particularly interested in comparing the language used by patients with acute pain with those who have been experiencing chronic pain. Some possible directions for the project can include thematic and semantic analysis. Questions we hope to answer with this project are: (1) how does a chronic patient describe pain?; (2) how does an acute pain patient describe pain?; (3) how do chronic pain and acute pain patients differ in their linguistic expression of pain?; (4) what is the role of metaphors in language around pain?; (5) what is the temporal relationship between pain transitions (from acute to chronic) and language?

Language of Pain

This project explores patient empowerment and the patient-clinician relationship. Our goal is to provide patients with an opportunity to reflect on their medical appointments and interactions. A few relevant research questions are: What types of thoughts are/are not being vocalized by patients during the visit? What are some of the barriers for patients in candidly discussing their experience/concerns/questions with healthcare providers? What are the underlying patterns of communication/behavior? How do these patterns correspond to different demographics? Our hypothesis is that chronic pain patients that candidly share their thoughts with their physician are more willing to reflect on the quality of their visit experience are more engaged in their own care and therefore have better clinical outcomes.

Resonance

Physical therapy (PT) is a crucial and highly beneficial activity that supports recovery from acute injury and generally promotes mobility and functioning throughout the lifespan. However, adherence to at-home PT is a major challenge given boredom, motivation, and difficulties tracking progress. Aiming to enhance people's PT experiences and outcomes, this project leverages the engaging, therapeutic power of music to provide intuitive, real-time feedback and adaptive guidance during exercises. Specifically, informed by the music therapy literature and a highly iterative user-centered design process, our system tracks and sonifies limb movements using state-of-the-art computer vision and music generation algorithms to capture motion data during rehabilitative exercises and convert that information into music and sounds that serve as acoustic guidance. Our lab-based evaluation shows this musical approach improves exercise performance and user engagement compared to traditional practices. Moving forward, we are working on deploying the system in-the-wild to evaluate its effects over time in real-world contexts.

MusicalPT

Overprescription is a significant concern in the United States and across the globe. Studies indicate that approximately 20% of prescription medications are considered medically “unnecessary” by physicians themselves ([Lyu et al., 2017](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181970)). The dramatic increase in medication usage is notably prominent in certain subfields of medicine such as psychiatry. Despite the widespread use of psychopharmaceuticals in clinical care, recent research underscores the importance of exercising greater caution in the initiation and continuation of these treatments ([Damiano Soares, 2022](https://www.scielo.br/j/rbp/a/m3gkYBvtNGgS953HdTb7d8k/?lang=en)). For many patients, psychiatric medications not only lead to unbearable side effects, but also bring about intense and prolonged physical and psychological symptoms upon dosage reduction or discontinuation. Adverse effects and the withdrawal experience, however, have long been downplayed in medical practice and understudied in research. Navigating a complex web of systemic issues in healthcare, patients frequently encounter skepticism and lack of support from providers. These individuals experience hopelessness and a profound sense of isolation, with their struggles left unaddressed and misunderstood. This project aims to develop solutions that address overprescription and iatrogenic harm.

On this page

Shirin Amouei

Research Areas

News

Shirin awarded Centers Forum at Dartmouth Grant

March 19, 2024

Shirin & Dylan presented posters at the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health Digital Health Summit

October 25, 2023

Shirin attending the Patient Experience Symposium

September 18, 2023

Shirin awarded Leslie Center for the Humanities Student Research Fellowship

February 23, 2023

Projects

Language of Pain

Resonance

MusicalPT

Overprescription