Acceptability of interventions for pediatric pain management

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Psychology
• Pain Management
• Healthcare Staff Attitudes

Background:

• Pediatric pain management requires effective and acceptable interventions.
• Staff acceptability influences the implementation of pain treatments for children.
• Understanding factors affecting treatment preferences is crucial for optimizing care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess pediatric staff acceptability of various pediatric pain interventions.
• To determine the influence of pain symptom severity and patient diagnostic status on intervention ratings.
• To compare the acceptability of behavioral and pharmacologic pain treatments.

Main Methods:

• Pediatric staff rated the acceptability of six interventions for pediatric pain.
• Interventions included extinction, self-management, contingency management, and pharmacologic treatments.
• Data were analyzed to identify significant differences based on intervention type, pain severity, and diagnosis.

Main Results:

• Extinction was rated significantly less acceptable than other behavioral and pharmacologic interventions.
• Self-management and contingency management were highly acceptable, preferred over pharmacologic options.
• Patient diagnostic status and pain symptom severity generally did not influence treatment ratings, with exceptions for self-management and pharmacologic treatment.

Conclusions:

• Self-management and contingency management are highly acceptable interventions for pediatric pain among staff.
• While most treatments were rated similarly across different patient conditions, specific interventions showed differential ratings.
• Findings highlight the importance of staff preferences in selecting and implementing pediatric pain management strategies.