Attributions and Coping in Children’s Pain Experiences

Objective To examine how children’s injury attributions and coping strategies relate to procedure-related distress during unplanned medical procedures (laceration repair). Methods Children (N = 50) with minor lacerations were assessed from emergency department admittance until discharge. Children’s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of pediatric psychology 2005-10, Vol.30 (7), p.615-622
Main Authors: Langer, David A., Chen, Edith, Luhmann, Janet D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adolescent
Anxiety - diagnosis
Anxiety - epidemiology
Anxiety - psychology
Attitude to Health
Biological and medical sciences
Child
child attribution
Child Behavior - psychology
child coping
Child, Preschool
Emergency Medical Services
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Illness and personality
Illness, stress and coping
injury
medical procedure
pain
Pain - psychology
Psychology and medicine
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Objective To examine how children’s injury attributions and coping strategies relate to procedure-related distress during unplanned medical procedures (laceration repair). Methods Children (N = 50) with minor lacerations were assessed from emergency department admittance until discharge. Children’s attributions of causes regarding their injury were assessed, and the Procedural Behavior Checklist was administered to each child (to assess coping strategies and procedure-related distress). Results Internally focused attributions of blame correlated with higher distress. Overall, children who reported primary-control coping, as opposed to secondary-control coping and relinquished-control coping, exhibited more pain during the procedure. Children who reported secondary-control coping, as opposed to relinquished-control coping, reported less pain after the procedure. Conclusions Injury attributions and coping style are significant factors in children’s pain experiences. These results suggest that self-blame may heighten subsequent pain experiences. In addition, similar coping strategies appear to be adaptive for unplanned medical procedures as have been found for planned medical procedures.
ISSN:0146-8693
1465-735X
DOI:10.1093/jpepsy/jsi047