Dr Rachel Elphinston is a Senior Research Fellow at Recover Injury Research Centre at The University of Queensland and clinical psychologist with more than a decade of industry-related experience. Her research interests focus on the psychological risk factors for pain and disability following injury, integrated pain treatments, pain medicines use, and the influence of social media. She has designed and implemented research projects examining factors associated with perceived injustice following road traffic crashes, psychosocial factors associated with prescription opioid use in individuals with chronic pain, the effectiveness of brief psychological risk-targeted telehealth interventions, and the role of social media messaging in policy implementation following the up-scheduling of codeine. She has received industry funding to co-design, develop and test feasibility of a psychological brief intervention to reduce risk of prescription opioid-related harm in patients with chronic pain. Dr Elphinston has a current appointment with Addiction and Mental Health Services in Metro South Health and has experience in working in multidisciplinary clinical and research teams to translate research into practice and design and implement new models of care. She also has experience in delivering education and training to a wide range of health professionals and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Elphinston, Rachel A., Sterling, Michele, Leung, Janni, Gray, Paul D., Requena, Simone Scotti and Connor, Jason P (2021). Brief psychological interventions for reducing prescription opioid use, related harm and pain intensity in patients with chronic pain: a systematic review and assessment of patient interest. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 37 (4), 270-280. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000908
Elphinston, Rachel A., Connor, Jason P., de Andrade, Dominique, Hipper, Linda, Freeman, Chris, Chan, Gary and Sterling, Michele (2021). Impact of a policy change restricting access to codeine on prescription opioid-related emergency department presentations: an interrupted time series analysis. Pain, Publish Ahead of Print (4), 1095-1103. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002115
Elphinston, Rachel A., Sterling, Michele, Kenardy, Justin, Smeets, Rob and Armfield, Nigel R. (2020). The mechanisms of effect of a physiotherapist-delivered integrated psychological and exercise intervention for acute whiplash-associated disorders: secondary mediation analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Pain Reports, 5 (5) e835, e835. doi: 10.1097/pr9.0000000000000835
Journal Article: Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relation
Elphinston, Rachel A. and Noller, Patricia (2011). Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relation. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14 (11), 631-635. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0318
PRioRTI: PReventing chronic pain after whiplash Road Traffic Injury
(2023–2028) NHMRC MRFF CTA - Clinical Trials Activity
Implementing integrated psychological and physical care for Australians after road traffic injury
(2023–2027) NHMRC MRFF Clinician Researchers: Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Grant
StudyU: A Unique Tool to Self-Manage Chronic Pain
(2022–2023) Health Developments Corporation
Enhancing engagement in digital psychological interventions for patients with chronic non-cancer pain
Doctor Philosophy
Virtual reality psychological interventions for chronic pain and driving phobia
Co-designing and evaluating digital psychological interventions for people with chronic pain to improve safe use of prescription opioid medications
Leveraging social media for injury and pain care
Elphinston, Rachel A., Sterling, Michele, Leung, Janni, Gray, Paul D., Requena, Simone Scotti and Connor, Jason P (2021). Brief psychological interventions for reducing prescription opioid use, related harm and pain intensity in patients with chronic pain: a systematic review and assessment of patient interest. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 37 (4), 270-280. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000908
Elphinston, Rachel A., Connor, Jason P., de Andrade, Dominique, Hipper, Linda, Freeman, Chris, Chan, Gary and Sterling, Michele (2021). Impact of a policy change restricting access to codeine on prescription opioid-related emergency department presentations: an interrupted time series analysis. Pain, Publish Ahead of Print (4), 1095-1103. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002115
Elphinston, Rachel A., Sterling, Michele, Kenardy, Justin, Smeets, Rob and Armfield, Nigel R. (2020). The mechanisms of effect of a physiotherapist-delivered integrated psychological and exercise intervention for acute whiplash-associated disorders: secondary mediation analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Pain Reports, 5 (5) e835, e835. doi: 10.1097/pr9.0000000000000835
Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relation
Elphinston, Rachel A. and Noller, Patricia (2011). Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relation. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14 (11), 631-635. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0318
Yates, Eloise, Buckley, Lisa, Sterling, Michele, Cruwys, Tegan, Ashton-James, Claire, Rankin, Renee and Elphinston, Rachel (2023). Interest in digital peer-delivered interventions and preferences to improve pain self-efficacy and reduce loneliness amongst patients with chronic pain: a mixed methods co-design study. JMIR Formative Research, 7 e41211, e41211. doi: 10.2196/41211
Eather, Chloe-Emily, Gullo, Matthew J. and Elphinston, Rachel A. (2023). Reward drive moderates the effect of depression-related cognitive mechanisms on risk of prescription opioid misuse among patients with chronic non-cancer pain. The Journal of Pain, 24 (4), 655-666. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2022.11.009
Buckley, Lisa, Sterling, Michele and Elphinston, Rachel A. (2023). Chronic pain experience through COVID-19: a comparison of reports prior and during the early stages of the pandemic. Pain, 164 (2), 435-442. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002724
Fulton, Sarah, Janssen, Heidi, Salih, Salih, James, Alecia and Elphinston, Rachel A (2022). Feasibility and acceptability of a mobile model of environmental enrichment for patients with mixed medical conditions receiving inpatient rehabilitation: a mixed methods study. BMJ Open, 12 (9) e061212, 1-10. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061212
Validation of the Facebook Addiction Questionnaire
Elphinston, Rachel A., Gullo, Matthew J. and Connor, Jason P. (2022). Validation of the Facebook Addiction Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 195 111619, 111619. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2022.111619
Psychological therapy using virtual reality for treatment of driving phobia: a systematic review
Elphinston, Rachel A., Vaezipour, Atiyeh, Fowler, James A., Russell, Trevor G. and Sterling, Michele (2022). Psychological therapy using virtual reality for treatment of driving phobia: a systematic review. Disability and Rehabilitation, 45 (10), 1-13. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2022.2069293
Elphinston, Rachel A., Sullivan, Michael J. L., Sterling, Michele, Connor, Jason. P., Baranoff, John A., Tan, Dylan and Day, Melissa A. (2022). Pain medication beliefs mediate the relationship between pain catastrophizing and opioid prescription use in patients with chronic non-cancer pain. Journal of Pain, 23 (3), 379-389. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2021.08.009
Virtual reality-based psychological therapy for the treatment of driving anxiety
Vaezipour, Atiyeh, Fowler, James A., Russell, Trevor, Sterling, Michele and Elphinston, Rachel A. (2021). Virtual reality-based psychological therapy for the treatment of driving anxiety. Journal of Transport and Health, 22 (s1) 101157, 5-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jth.2021.101157
Scotti Requena, Simone, Sterling, Michele, Elphinston, Rachel A., Ritchie, Carrie, Robins, Sarah and R Armfield, Nigel (2021). Development and use of mobile messaging for individuals with musculoskeletal pain conditions: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, 11 (7) 048964, e048964. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-048964
Elphinston, Rachel A., Sterling, Michele, Leung, Janni, Gray, Paul D., Requena, Simone Scotti and Connor, Jason P (2021). Brief psychological interventions for reducing prescription opioid use, related harm and pain intensity in patients with chronic pain: a systematic review and assessment of patient interest. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 37 (4), 270-280. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000908
Elphinston, Rachel A., Connor, Jason P., de Andrade, Dominique, Hipper, Linda, Freeman, Chris, Chan, Gary and Sterling, Michele (2021). Impact of a policy change restricting access to codeine on prescription opioid-related emergency department presentations: an interrupted time series analysis. Pain, Publish Ahead of Print (4), 1095-1103. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002115
Elphinston, Rachel A., Sterling, Michele, Kenardy, Justin, Smeets, Rob and Armfield, Nigel R. (2020). The mechanisms of effect of a physiotherapist-delivered integrated psychological and exercise intervention for acute whiplash-associated disorders: secondary mediation analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Pain Reports, 5 (5) e835, e835. doi: 10.1097/pr9.0000000000000835
Elphinston, Rachel A., Wyder, Marianne, De Andrade, Dominique, Nguyen, Kim-Huong, Gude, Alan and Hipper, Linda (2020). Impact of a new specialist alcohol and drug brief intervention service model integrated into the emergency department: An interrupted time series analysis. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 33 (1) 1742-6723.13582, 67-73. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.13582
Fowler, James, Gullo, Matthew J. and Elphinston, Rachel A. (2020). Impulsivity traits and Facebook addiction in young people and the potential mediating role of coping styles. Personality and Individual Differences, 161 109965, 109965. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.109965
Elphinston, Rachel A., Requena, Simone Scotti, Angus, Daniel, de Andrade, Dominique, Freeman, Christopher R. and Day, Melissa A. (2019). The promotion of policy changes restricting access to codeine medicines on Twitter: what do national pain organizations say?. The Journal of Pain, 21 (7-8), 881-891. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2019.12.001
de Andrade, Dominique, Elphinston, Rachel A., Quinn, Catherine, Allan, Julaine and Hides, Leanne (2019). The effectiveness of residential treatment services for individuals with substance use disorders: a systematic review. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 201, 227-235. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.03.031
O'Donovan, Julie, Russell, Karen, Kuipers, Pim, Siskind, Dan and Elphinston, Rachel A. (2019). A place to call home: hearing the perspectives of people living with homelessness and mental illness through service evaluation. Community Mental Health Journal, 55 (7), 1218-1225. doi: 10.1007/s10597-019-00406-8
Validation of an index of Sensitivity to Movement-Evoked Pain in patients with whiplash injuries
Wan, Alan K., Rainville, Pierre, O'Leary, Shaun, Elphinston, Rachel A., Sterling, Michele, Larivière, Christian and Sullivan, Michael J. L. (2018). Validation of an index of Sensitivity to Movement-Evoked Pain in patients with whiplash injuries. Pain Reports, 3 (4) e661, e661. doi: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000000661
Elphinston, Rachel A., Thibault, Pascal, Carriere, Junie S., Rainville, Pierre and Sullivan, Michael J. (2018). Cross-sectional and prospective correlates of recovery expectancies in the rehabilitation of whiplash injury. Clinical Journal of Pain, 34 (4) 0542, 306-312. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000542
Ward, Elizabeth C., Elphinston, Rachel A., Wall, Laurelie R., Schwarz, Maria and Gordon, Gail E. (2018). Research engagement and activity in an allied health workforce insights into departmental and organisational strategies. Journal of Allied Health, 47 (4), 265-271.
Untapped potential: psychologists leading research in clinical practice
Elphinston, Rachel A. and Pager, Susan (2015). Untapped potential: psychologists leading research in clinical practice. Australian Psychologist, 50 (2), 115-121. doi: 10.1111/ap.12102
Romantic jealousy and relationship satisfaction: the costs of rumination
Elphinston, Rachel A., Feeney, Judith A., Noller, Patricia, Connor, Jason P. and Fitzgerald, Jennifer (2013). Romantic jealousy and relationship satisfaction: the costs of rumination. Western Journal of Communication, 77 (3), 293-304. doi: 10.1080/10570314.2013.770161
Measuring romantic jealousy: Validation of the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale in Australian samples
Elphinston, Rachel A., Feeney, Judith A. and Noller, Patricia (2011). Measuring romantic jealousy: Validation of the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale in Australian samples. Australian Journal of Psychology, 63 (4), 243-251. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-9536.2011.00026.x
Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relation
Elphinston, Rachel A. and Noller, Patricia (2011). Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relation. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14 (11), 631-635. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0318
Nikles, Jane, Johnston, Amy, van Driel, Mieke, Perez, Siegfried, Ritchie, Carrie, Elphinston, Rachel and Sterling, Michele (2022). A systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions to improve opioid prescribing in ED for acute non-admitted musculoskeletal pain. Recover Injury Research Centre, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 6 October 2022.
Nikles, J., Johnston, A., van Driel, M., Perez, S., Ritchie, C., Elphinston, R. and Sterling, M. (2022). A systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions to improve opioid prescribing in ED for acute non-admitted musculoskeletal pain. Recover Injury Research Centre Conference, Brisbane, Australia, October 2022.
Quinn, Catherine, Hides, Leanne, De Andrade, Dominique, Elphinston, Rachel, Wilson, Megan and Kavanagh, David (2018). Impact of brief psychoeducational interventions for reducing alcohol use and related harm in school leavers. Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs (APSAD), Auckland, New Zealand, 4-7 November, 2018. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
De Andrade, Dominique, Hides, Leanne, Quinn, Catherine, Elphinston, Rachel and Allan, Julaine (2018). The effectiveness of residential treatment services for individuals with substance use disorders: A review of recent evidence. Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs (APSAD), Auckland, New Zealand, 4-7 November 2018. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. doi: 10.1111/dar.12862
Hides, Leanne, Elphinston, Rachel and Quinn, Catherine (2018). Workshop: QuikFix: A new risk-targeted brief intervention for young people at risk of substance-related harm. Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs (APSAD), Auckland, New Zealand, 4-7 November, 2018. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Robinson, A. and Elphinston, R. A. (2015). The customer’s always right: first insights into recruitment and selection practices across allied health. APS 11th Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 2-7 July 2015.
Elphinston, R. A. and Feeney, J. A. (2006). An attachment perspective on romantic jealousy: examining person and situational determinants and their interactive effects.. Conference of the Interpersonal Association for Relationships, Crete, Greece, 6-10 July 2006.
Elphinston, R. A. and Feeney, J. A. (2005). The dark side of romantic relationships: The role of person and situational variable in the experience and expression of jealousy. the 40th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society, Crown Promenade Hotel, Melbourne, Victoria, 28 September - 2 October 2005. Basingstoke, UK: Taylor & Francis.
Yates, Eloise, Buckley, Lisa, Sterling, Michele, Cruwys, Tegan, Ashton-James, Claire, Rankin, Renee and Elphinston, Rachel (2022). Interest in digital peer-delivered interventions and preferences to improve pain self-efficacy amongst patients with chronic pain: a mixed methods co-design study.
Elphinston, Rachel A., Pager, Sue, Brown, Kelly, Sterling, Michele, Fatehi, Farhad, Gray, Paul, Hipper, Linda, Cahill, Linda and Connor, Jason P. (2022). The first step in co-design of a digital brief intervention to reduce prescription opioid related harm, informed by patient lived experiences: a qualitative analysis.
Elphinston, Rachel A., Pager, Sue, Fatehi, Farhad, Sterling, Michele, Brown, Kelly, Gray, Paul, Hipper, Linda, Cahill, Lauren , Ziadni, Maisa, Worthy, Peter and Connor, Jason P. (2022). Applying patient and health professional preferences as part of co-designing a new digital brief intervention to reduce prescription opioid harm.
Elphinston, Rachel (2010). Understanding jealousy in romantic relationships: links to attachment, Facebook involvement, and relational outcomes. PhD Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland.
PRioRTI: PReventing chronic pain after whiplash Road Traffic Injury
(2023–2028) NHMRC MRFF CTA - Clinical Trials Activity
Implementing integrated psychological and physical care for Australians after road traffic injury
(2023–2027) NHMRC MRFF Clinician Researchers: Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Grant
StudyU: A Unique Tool to Self-Manage Chronic Pain
(2022–2023) Health Developments Corporation
Whiplash Navigator Implementation project
(2021–2028) Motor Accident Insurance Commission
(2021–2024) Metro South Hospital and Health Service
Dr Rachel Elphinston - AQ WRAP
(2021–2022) Advance Queensland Women's Research Assistance Program
(2020–2022) Metro South Hospital and Health Service
(2019–2021) Australian Rotary Health Research Fund
Enhancing engagement in digital psychological interventions for patients with chronic non-cancer pain
Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.
Virtual reality psychological interventions for chronic pain and driving phobia
Co-designing and evaluating digital psychological interventions for people with chronic pain to improve safe use of prescription opioid medications
Leveraging social media for injury and pain care
Designing and evaluating intensive digital psychological interventions targeted to pain-related psychosocial risk factors
Advancing conceptualisation and measurement of Internet-based addictions
Digital peer support interventions for individuals with pain
Progressing conceptual and transdiagnostic treatment models of co-morbid chronic pain and depression