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Correlates of pain-related responses to venipunctures in school-age children
1Université de Montréal, Faculté des Sciences Infirmières, Quebec, Canada.
Insights
Children's age and temperament significantly influence their pain responses during venipuncture, impacting pain quality and physiological reactions. These factors, along with fears, contribute to understanding pain perception in pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Pediatric Psychology
- Pain Management
Background:
- Pain is a multidimensional experience in children.
- Understanding factors influencing pediatric pain responses is crucial for effective management.
- The Roy Adaptation Model provides a framework for examining person-environment interactions related to adaptation, including pain response.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between children's characteristics (age, gender, past experiences, temperament, fears, child-rearing practices) and their pain responses to venipuncture.
- To identify predictors of children's subjective, behavioral, and physiological pain responses.
Main Methods:
- A sample of 94 children (aged 8-12) and their caregivers were recruited from outpatient clinics.
- Children's pain responses were assessed during venipuncture using behavioral observation and heart rate monitoring.
- Subjective pain responses were recorded immediately after the procedure.
Main Results:
- Canonical correlation analysis identified two significant variates explaining variance in pain responses.
- Children's age and temperament (threshold) correlated with pain quality, behavioral responses, and heart rate responses (12% variance).
- Age, temperament (distractibility, threshold), and medical fears explained an additional 5.7% of the variance in pain quality and heart rate magnitude.
Conclusions:
- Children's age and temperament are significant factors in their pain experience during venipuncture.
- Pain perception in children is multidimensional, influenced by age, temperament, and psychological factors like fears.
- Findings support the utility of the Roy Adaptation Model in understanding pediatric pain adaptation.
Abstract:
Guided by the Roy Adaptation Model of Nursing, the relationship of children's age, gender, exposure to past painful experiences, temperament, fears, and child-rearing practices to their pain responses to a venipuncture was examined. A sample of 94 children aged 8 to 12 years and their female caregivers were recruited from three outpatient clinics. During the venipuncture, children's behavioral and heart rate responses were monitored; immediately after, their subjective responses were recorded. Canonical correlation revealed two variates. In the first, age and threshold (temperamental dimension) correlated with pain quality, behavioral responses, and heart rate responses, explaining 12% of the variance. In the second, age, the temperamental dimensions of distractibility and threshold, and medical fears explained only 5.7% of the variance in pain quality and heart rate magnitude. Significant correlations between pain intensity, quality, behavioral responses, and heart rate responses support the multidimensionality of pain.