Mallorca families to film signs of cerebral palsy pain

Mallorca families will film everyday moments at home and mark possible signs of pain in people with cerebral palsy. The University of the Balearic Islands announced the ParticiPC project in Palma, Mallorca, on 15 October. It aims to help families and professionals recognise and assess pain in people whose severe communication difficulties make it hard to say what hurts.

Families record what they see

Families taking part will film and label videos at home, where many everyday episodes of pain occur. They will receive guidance on spotting possible pain and using tested observation scales to assess what they see.

The same videos, three assessments

The recordings will add to PC-PAIN, a video database of pain expressions in people with cerebral palsy created at the university. Researchers also plan to improve PainScan-CP, an artificial intelligence tool that looks for signs of pain in facial expressions.

Families, professionals and PainScan-CP will assess the same videos. Researchers will compare their findings to see where they agree and where the tool needs work.

Aspace Baleares and other Aspace organisations in Spain are working with the university. The project runs from 2026 to 2027 and expects more than 100 families to take part. Researchers plan to share the results with those families, the partner organisations and the scientific community.

Topics: Health

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com