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How professionals in pediatrics change the words they use to mitigate pain: A lexical description after a short
Margot Bedu1,2, David Ogez3,4, Jennifer Aramideh1
1Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Insights
Healthcare professionals who completed hypnotic communication training used fewer negative words and more positive, technique-specific words when performing pediatric procedures. These language changes, aimed at reducing procedural pain, were sustained long-term.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare communication
- Pain management strategies
- Hypnotic communication techniques
Background:
- Pediatric patients often undergo repeated painful procedures.
- Healthcare professional communication styles can influence procedural pain.
- Hypnotic communication training (Rel@x) shows promise in mitigating pediatric procedural pain.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate changes in healthcare professionals' language use after hypnotic communication training.
- To assess the durability of these language changes over time.
Main Methods:
- 78 healthcare professionals received 9-hour hypnotic communication training.
- 58 participants were evaluated at baseline, post-training, and 5-month follow-up.
- Video-recorded simulations of venipuncture were analyzed for word usage in five categories.
Main Results:
- Post-training, professionals used 51% fewer negative words and 73% fewer procedure-related words.
- Use of relaxation/analgesic words increased by 20%, with significant increases in specific technique words.
- Language changes were maintained (45-81%) at 5 months, with greater changes in women and less experienced staff.
Conclusions:
- Short, structured hypnotic communication training leads to durable changes in healthcare providers' language during pediatric procedures.
- These findings support the implementation of hypnosis-derived communication training to improve pediatric pain management.
Background:
Young patients who suffer from a pediatric condition are typically submitted to diverse and often repeated painful procedures. Theory and empirical studies suggest that communication styles used by healthcare professionals could mitigate such procedural pain. Recently, a hypnotic communication training (Rel@x) was developed with promising results. The present study aimed to describe how healthcare professionals change the words they use with patients after training.
Methods:
A nine-hour training in hypnosis-derived communication was offered to 78 volunteer healthcare professionals from a tertiary pediatric hospital, and 58 participated in the evaluative study. Participants were evaluated at baseline, immediately after the training, and 5 months later (39 ± 10 yrs, 52 women, 54 nurses). We used a video-recorded standardized simulation protocol of venipuncture, and five categories of words were derived. Word categories were corroborated in a validity study with 10 independent judges. We modeled pre-post-follow-up changes over time with latent growth curve models.
Results:
Following training, healthcare professionals used fewer words related to negative experiences (-51%) or medical procedures (-73%) and used more words referring to the relaxing and analgesic experience (+20%), and the specific techniques they had learned (Pleasant place +260%, Magic glove +582%). These changes were maintained at a proportion of 45-81% 5 months later. More change was observed among women and less experienced healthcare professionals.
Conclusion:
Results suggest that healthcare professionals exposed to a short, structured communication training aiming to mitigate pediatric pain durably adjust the language they use when performing a painful procedure. This is encouraging for future testing and implementation of hypnosis-derived communication training in healthcare providers.
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