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SMS pain diary: a method for real-time data capture of recurrent pain in childhood
1CLINTEC Department, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. gosta.alfven@karolinska.se
Insights
Children aged 9-15 can report recurrent pain using SMS, capturing intensity, duration, and disability. This pilot study shows good compliance and validates a new pain-related disability scale.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pain Management
- Digital Health Interventions
- Clinical Research Methodology
Background:
- Recurrent pain is common in children, impacting their quality of life.
- Objective and reliable pain assessment methods are crucial for effective treatment.
- Short Message Service (SMS) offers a potential platform for real-time data collection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the feasibility of using SMS for capturing recurrent pain in children (9-15 years).
- To assess compliance with SMS-based pain reporting.
- To validate a novel verbal scale for pain-related disability.
Main Methods:
- A pilot study involving 15 children reporting pain via SMS six times daily for one week.
- Pain data collected included intensity (Numeric Rating Scale-11), duration (minutes), and a verbal pain-related disability scale (0-5).
- The verbal disability scale's validity was tested in 37 children, and reliability in 20 children via test-retest.
Main Results:
- High compliance was observed for reporting pain intensity, duration, and disability via SMS.
- The study provided evidence supporting the construct validity and reliability of the verbal pain-related disability scale.
- SMS reporting was found to be an inexpensive and compliant method for capturing pain experiences.
Conclusions:
- SMS is a viable, cost-effective tool for real-time capture of pediatric pain intensity, duration, and disability in children aged 9-15.
- The developed verbal scale demonstrates adequate validity and reliability for assessing pain-related disability.
- Further research is recommended to corroborate these findings in larger cohorts.
Objectives:
To capture recurrent pain in children aged 9-15 years reported by short message service (SMS) and to test the compliance of such reporting in a pilot study.
Methods:
After instructions, 15 children reported their pain six times a day on SMS for a week and the compatibility of the reporting was evaluated. The pain was expressed and reported on three variables: intensity captured using a numeric rating scale (NRS-11), duration in minutes and a verbal pain-related disability scale with six alternatives (0-5). The validity of this scale was tested in 37 children, and the reliability in a test-retest procedure in 20 children.
Results:
Good compliance reporting the three variables intensity and duration of pain as well as pain-related disability on SMS was indicated. Support for construct validity and reliability of the verbal instrument for pain-related disability was achieved.
Conclusion:
The study supports the hypothesis that pain experience expressed as intensity, duration and pain-related disability can be captured in real time by SMS in an inexpensive and compliant way in children aged 9-15 years. Validity and reliability was indicated for the constructed verbal pain-related disability scale. Further studies are needed to further confirm these findings.
