Describe a research study suggesting that guided imagery with relaxation can be applied to medical patients with pain conditions to potentially improve their health-related quality of life. Include in your description the limitations in the study

What will be an ideal response?

Baird and Sands (2006) randomly assigned 28 older women patients with the painful condition of osteoarthritis to two groups. In one group patients completed a 12-week program of guided imagery with relaxation. The other group served as a no treatment control. Both groups kept a daily diary in which they recorded their symptoms. Upon completion of the program, patients in the guided imagery group showed increases in health-related quality of life, a measure that included indices of pain and mobility. Even after statistically controlling for pain and mobility scores, the effect still held, suggesting that it was not limited to improvements in just these domains. This study is limited by its small sample size and lack of a placebo control. However, it is suggestive of how guided imagery with relaxation can be applied to medical patients with pain conditions to potentially improve their health-related quality of life.