6.10.2023
Online
In recognition of the World CP Day, join us online to learn about recent discoveries in pain, mental fatigue and cognitive difficulties in persons with cerebral palsy.
The webinar is primarily for professionals (for example physicians, health care professionals and therapists) but people with CP and their families are very welcome and encouraged to attend.
After each presentation there will be time for discussion. The presentations will be held in English.
The webinar is free of charge. Feel free to share this information with your colleagues!
The webinar is organized by The Finnish CP Association, CP Sverige and Arcada University.
Registration is closed. If you want to join us, follow this Zoom link or please contact elisa.kaartinen@cp-liitto.fi.
We look forward to interarcting with our colleagues and families from all the Nordic countries!
The webinar link will be sent via email on October 5th.
Timeline for the webinar October 6th 2023 in the different countries:
9.00–11.00 Iceland, Faroe Islands (GMT/UTC +0)
10.00–12.00 Denmark, Norway, Sweden (GMT/UTC +1)
11.00–13.00 Finland (GMT/UTC +2)
Presenters and more about their topics
1. Cognitive difficulties in individuals with cerebral palsy
Presenter: Ann Alriksson-Schmidt, PhD, MSPH
Ann Alriksson-Schmidt is associate professor in Disability and Public Health at Lund University, Sweden. Ann did her bachelor's degree in psychology at San Diego State University and graduated with her doctoral degree in developmental psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in 2007. She then went on to work as an AUCD fellow and health scientist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta for a number of years. She also holds a MSPH in public health (epidemiology). Her work at CDC primarily focused on spina bifida. After relocating to Sweden, her work has primarily been focused on register-based research related to individuals with cerebral palsy and spina bifida. She coordinates the cognitive module of the combined register and follow-up program CPUP in Sweden. Ann also helped found and is vice chairperson of the user organization for individuals with CP and professionals working with CP in Sweden, entitled CP Sverige.
Description of the talk: The presentation will be on cognition in cerebral palsy in general. In addition, CPCog, the cognitive module included in the Swedish and Norwegian follow-up programs for CP will be discussed as well as some of the most recent findings from the Swedish CPCog data.
2. Pain in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy
Presenter: Selma Mujezinovic Larsen, MD, PhD
Selma M Larsen is a consultant in paediatrics at Oslo University Hospital. She has worked in the field of paediatric neurology and neurohabilitation since 2005. In 2022, Selma defended her PhD thesis on Pain and health-related quality of life in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy. Her research consisted of longitudinal population-based studies addressing pain, hip pain and health-related quality of life, as well as a linkage study on the contact with general practitioner comparing paediatric population with cerebral palsy (CP) to the general paediatric population. She has also contributed to research in paediatric acquired brain injury and rare encephalopathies. Currently, she is active in a task group for developing national guidelines on treatment of CP, in particular pain.
Description of the talk:
Pain has been reported in the majority of children with CP. In my talk, I will address pain assessment in protocols and research, recent studies on pain in CP, and findings in my PhD project. I will also address the role of registries and follow-up programmes in the clinical work, as well as the theory on healthcare seeking. I will provide a short status report on the initiative on developing national guidelines on treatment of pain in CP.
3. Mental fatigue among adults with cerebral palsy
Presenter: Frederik L. Dornonville de la Cour, PhD
Frederik la Cour is a neuropsychologist of training and postdoc at Neurorehabilitation Research and Knowledge Centre at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, and the Elsass Foundation. His primary research interest is neurorehabilitation and fatigue in neurological conditions. In 2022, Frederik completed his PhD project about rehabilitation of fatigue following acquired brain injury. His research concerned a validation study on a questionnaire about fatigue, and a qualitative study to specify a model of treatments for improving self-management of fatigue in neurorehabilitation. He is currently working on research projects on fatigue in cerebral palsy at the Elsass Foundation.
Description of the talk:
Mental fatigue is a common problem in many neurological conditions, including cerebral palsy (CP), with detrimental effects on everyday life and functioning. This talk provides a general introduction to the concept of mental fatigue, recent research on mental fatigue in CP, and management of fatigue in neurorehabilitation. Based on work in acquired brain injury, a theorical model of potential treatments and strategies for improving self-management of fatigue is presented briefly.
