Alexandra Ferreira-Valente

Alexandra Ferreira-Valente is interested in the positive orientation of health psychology, pain assessment and management, effects and mechanisms of psychological pain interventions and cross-cultural mixed-method research. She is particularly focused on understanding how the association between the meaning attributed to pain, beliefs and coping responses and psychological and physical adjustment do chronic pain are mediated and moderated by culture in people with chronic pain from different countries and cultural backgrounds. She is also dedicated to the study of the mechanisms explaining the effects of self-management strategies and psychological and spiritual interventions on the adjustment to life in healthy and not healthy people. In her research work, she combines cognitive-behavioral and existentialistic approaches with the overarching and long-term aim of helping people better manage different stressors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic pain, and their effects on people’s lives.

Main 5 publications

Ferreira-Valente, A., Solé, E., Sánchez-Rodríguez, E., Sharma, S., Pathak, A., Jensen, M. P., Miró, J., & de la Vega, R. (in press). Does pain acceptance buffer the negative effects of catastrophizing on function in individuals with chronic pain? Clinical Journal of Pain.

Ferreira-Valente, A., Pimenta, F., Costa, R.M., Day, M.A., Pais-Ribeiro, J., & Jensen, M. P. (2021). The COPAHS study: Protocol of a randomized experimental study comparing the effects of hypnosis, mindfulness meditation and spiritual practices on experimental pain in healthy adults. BMJ Open 11, e040068. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040068.

Sharma, S., Ferreira-Valente, A., de C. Williams, A., Abbott, J.H., Pais-Ribeiro, J., & Jensen, M. P. (2020). Group Differences Between Countries and Between Languages in Pain-Related Beliefs, Coping, and Catastrophizing in Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review. Pain Medicine, 21 (9), 1847-1862. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnz373.

Ferreira-Valente, A., Pais-Ribeiro, J.L., & Jensen, M.P. (2014). Association between psychosocial factors and pain intensity, physical functioning, and psychological functioning in patients with chronic pain: A cross-cultural comparison. Clinical Journal of Pain, 30(8), 713-723. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/AJP.0000000000000027

Ferreira-Valente, A., Pais-Ribeiro, J., & Jensen, M.P. (2011). Validity of four pain intensity rating scales. Pain, 152(10), 2399-2404. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2011.07.005

Contacts

E-mail: mafvalente@gmail.com
Ciência ID: https://www.cienciavitae.pt/2912-CE3A-0EC5
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3684-5561
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/M_Alexandra_Ferreira-Valente