Stefaan Van Damme

Stefaan Van Damme is Associate Professor in the Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology at Ghent University, Belgium. He obtained his PhD in 2004 studying attentional processes related to pain, under the supervision of Geert Crombez. He is a researcher in the field of clinical health and medical psychology and focuses on the psychology of physical illness.

He coordinates experimental and clinically applied research on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes triggered by aversive bodily sensations and (chronic) illness, and their potential role in functioning and quality of life. He focuses on the development of integrative theoretical models of symptom perception, attention, motivation, motor processes, and coping, that are grounded within a functional perspective built around the guiding power and dynamic nature of goals and self-regulation. His research is characterized by a multi-method approach integrating self-report, behavioral, and cortical measures.  He has been awarded with the EFIC Grünenthal Grant and the IASP Early Career Award for his innovative fundamental research on attentional processes in pain.

At Ghent University, Stefaan also teaches courses on various topics within the domain of clinical health and medical psychology. He is active in various Bachelor and Master programs including clinical psychology, health promotion, rehabilitation sciences and physiotherapy, and pharmaceutical care. One of the central topics in his teaching is motivational interviewing. In this context, he developed a blended learning approach including video annotation to support skills training and feedback, for which her received an education innovation grant.

Interests

• Cognitive-affective and motivational mechanisms in aversive bodily sensations (e.g., pain, fatigue) and physical illness (i.e., various chronic medical diseases)
• Interactions between pain, fear, attention, and motor processes
• Self-regulation of bodily symptoms and (chronic) illness
• Coping, goal adjustment, and health-related quality of life
• Motivational interviewing and health promotion
• Blended learning and video annotation tool