Zina Trost

My research interests fall into three broad, overlapping categories: 1) First, I am interested in cognitive, affective, and behavioral factors that may contribute to development of chronic pain/disability or facilitate positive adjustment following physical injury. Currently my work focuses on the role of perceptions of injustice regarding one's pain, injury, or circumstance. I am especially interested in the intersection of injustice perceptions with larger societal inequities, such as discrimination. 2) Second, I am interested in how we understand the pain and suffering of others, and in particular whether individuals (e.g., healthcare providers) may make decisions based on unconscious bias regarding patient characteristics, such as gender, weight, or race. 3) Finally, my work applies emerging virtual technologies to pressing issues in chronic pain, disability, and rehabilitation, including the above issues. My currently funded research employs a "virtual walking" paradigm to alleviate chronic neuropathic pain in individuals with spinal cord injury. We are also using haptic virtual reality to restore touch perception among individuals with 'discomplete' SCI. These are Department of Defense-funded international and multisite projects.

Sturgeon, D., Trost, Z., Ashar, Y., Lumley, M., Shubiner, H., Clauw, D., Hassett, A. (in press). Brief Pain Reprocessing Therapy for fibromyalgia: A feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy pilot. Regional Anasthesia and Pain Medicine Wedner, C.***, & Trost, Z. (2025). Virtual reality in chronic pain management: How do we galvanize a stagnant field? Pain Management, 129, 1-3. PMID: 40883251 Alnojeidi, A. H.*, Capo-Lugo, C., Sturgeon, J.A., & Trost, Z. (in press, 2025). Preliminary study: The role of ethnic identity, religiosity, and discrimination in injustice appraisal among Arab-Americans with chronic low back pain. Journal of Pain. Daenen, F.**, Bert, F., *, Van Ryckhem, D., Trost, Z., & Vervoort, T. (in press, 2025). Assessing child pain-related injustice appraisals: A d