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Updated: Oct 26, 2025
An Experimental Paradigm for the Prediction of Post-Operative Pain PPOP
Published on: January 27, 2010
Effects of Pain-Reporting Education Program on Children's Pain Reports-Results From a Randomized Controlled
Dafna Zontag1,2, Liat Honigman1, Pora Kuperman1
1Department of Nursing, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Insights
A training program significantly improved pediatric patients' ability to report post-surgical pain. This educational intervention enhanced pain score consistency, aiding better pain management for children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Medicine
- Pain Management
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Accurate pain assessment is crucial for effective analgesic treatment in children.
- Pediatric patients often receive limited instruction on reporting pain, impacting assessment accuracy.
- Post-surgical pain management in children requires reliable self-reporting.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of a training program on children's ability to understand and use pain scales post-surgery.
- To assess if improved pain reporting skills in pediatric patients affect their pain scores.
- To determine the effect of a multimedia educational intervention on pain assessment consistency in children.
Main Methods:
- A randomized parallel-group clinical trial involving 96 children (aged 8-17) undergoing elective surgery.
- The intervention group received a pre-surgery multimedia program on pain reporting; the control group received standard instructions.
- Post-surgery, children reported pain using four scales, with primary outcomes measuring score concordance (within-subject standard deviation and absolute difference).
Main Results:
- Trained pediatric patients demonstrated significantly lower within-subject standard deviation in pain reports (0.41 ± 0.31) compared to controls (0.67 ± 0.46; p = 0.002).
- Concordance of pain reports, measured by absolute difference, was twice as good in the trained group (0.43 ± 0.40) versus the control group (0.88 ± 0.70; p < 0.001).
- The training program effectively improved the consistency of pain scores reported by children.
Conclusions:
- Children's ability to report pain is a skill that can be enhanced through targeted educational interventions.
- Improving pain assessment skills in pediatric patients can lead to more reliable pain scores.
- Future research should explore the clinical implications of educational interventions for pain assessment in pediatric and adult populations.
Abstract:
Objective: Accurate assessment of patients' pain is an essential part of adequate analgesic treatment. Although reporting pain is a complex task, limited-to-no instructions are provided to pediatric patients regarding this process. Our goal in this randomized parallel-group clinical trial (Clinicaltrial.gov study protocol number NCT04306679) was to evaluate if a training program designed to improve children's ability to understand and use pain scales in a post-surgical setting would affect their pain scores. Methods: Eligible children (aged 8-17), hospitalized for elective surgery and their parents were randomized into two groups. Pre-surgery the intervention group underwent a multi-media program aimed to teach and train how to report pain. The control group received standard pre-surgical instructions. Post-surgery, the children reported their pain on 4 pain scales. The primary outcome was the concordance between children's pain intensity scores reported on four pain scales, both in terms of within-child standard deviation and absolute difference. Results: Ninety-six children met inclusion criteria and completed the study. The trained subjects' pain reports had significantly (p = 0.002) lower within-subject standard deviation (0.41 ± 0.31) than the control group (0.67 ± 0.46). In line, regarding absolute difference, the concordance of children's pain reports was twice better in the trained group (mean difference of 0.43 ± 0.40) than in the control group (0.88 ± 0.70) (p < 0.001). Discussion: Our results suggests that children's ability to report pain is a skill that can be improved. Future studies should test the potential clinical impacts of educational interventions aimed to improve pain assessment in children and adults.
