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Updated: Jul 19, 2025
An Experimental Paradigm for the Prediction of Post-Operative Pain PPOP
Published on: January 27, 2010
Parental Postoperative Pain Management Perceptions, Attitudes, and Practices in Pediatric Limb Fractures
Su-Mei Zhang1, Yu-Ying Chan2, Li-Li Lai1
1Nursing Department, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
Insights
Parents often lack knowledge and have negative attitudes regarding pediatric postoperative pain management, impacting their pain relief strategies. Targeted education is crucial for improving parental practices in managing children's pain after surgery.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nursing
- Pain Management
- Health Psychology
Background:
- Post-surgical pain in children is a significant clinical challenge, often inadequately managed.
- Effective pain management models require active parental involvement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate parental perceptions, attitudes, and practices concerning postoperative pain management in children with limb fractures.
- To identify factors influencing parental pain management practices.
Main Methods:
- A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary children's hospital.
- 180 parents of children (aged 6-18) undergoing orthopedic fracture surgery completed self-report questionnaires on pain management knowledge, attitudes, and strategy use.
- Statistical analyses included Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H, correlation, and regression.
Main Results:
- A majority of parents exhibited low-to-moderate knowledge (80.6%), general attitudes (78.3%), and pain relief strategy use (71.7%).
- Most parents (93.9%) held negative attitudes toward analgesics, despite reporting moderate-to-high pain in their children (median 7.0).
- Parental use of pain relief strategies was significantly associated with their general attitudes, knowledge, and sex.
Conclusions:
- Parents frequently demonstrate suboptimal knowledge and attitudes toward pediatric postoperative pain management, negatively affecting their practices.
- Deficiencies in understanding pain assessment and analgesics significantly impair parental pain management strategies.
- Targeted educational interventions for parents are essential to improve pain management practices.
Background:
Post-surgical pain in children is common, severe, and inadequately controlled. An effective model should involve the participation of parents.
Aims:
To investigate parental perceptions, attitudes, and practices in postoperative pain management in children with limb fractures and analyze the factors affecting parental practices.
Design:
This was a descriptive cross-sectional study.
Settings:
Research was conducted at a tertiary Children's Hospital Affiliated with Soochow University.
Participants:
Parents whose children (age, 6-18 years) underwent orthopedic fracture surgery between January 1, 2020, and August 31, 2020, were recruited using purposive sampling.
Methods:
The parents were asked to complete self-report questionnaires: "Pain Management Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire" and "Parents' Use of Pain Relief Strategies Questionnaire." The Wong-Baker Faces Scale was used to measure pain intensity in children. The Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and correlation and regression analyses were used for statistical analyses.
Results:
Data of 180 parents were collected. Of the participants, 80.6%, 78.3%, and 71.7% had low-to-moderate scores for knowledge, general attitudes, and use of pain relief strategies, respectively. Moreover, 93.9% of parents had moderate-to-high scores for negative attitudes toward medication, despite 89.5% of them reporting moderate-to-high pain intensities in their children (median proxy-report of pain intensity, 7.0 [3.00]). Multivariate linear stepwise regression showed that parents' use of pain-relief strategies was related to their general attitudes, knowledge, and sex.
Conclusions:
Most parents had low-to-moderate scores for perceptions and general attitudes toward children's postoperative pain management, and use of pain relief strategies. Moreover, they lacked knowledge of and had negative attitudes toward pain assessment and analgesics, which significantly impacted their practices.
Clinical Implications:
Clinical pediatric nurses should provide appropriate support for the entire family of the child. Moreover, to enhance parental practices, they should develop targeted parental education programs for pain management, particularly regarding pain assessment tools and pain medications.
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