Parental pain expectancy as a mediator between child expected and experienced procedure-related pain intensity during painful medical procedures.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this prospective investigation was to evaluate child and parental expectancies as a predictor of pain perception in pediatric oncology patients undergoing painful medical procedures.

METHODS

Forty-five children with leukemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma and their parents rated expected and experienced pain during lumbar punctures at baseline, during intervention (ie, cognitive-behavior therapy) administered by a therapist and when children were using cognitive-behavior therapy skills independently.

RESULTS

Parental and child expectancies were significantly correlated. Parents consistently expected their children to experience more pain than children were expecting themselves. Parental expectancy was found to mediate the relationship between child expected and experienced pain during every phase of the study.

DISCUSSION

It is concluded that parental expectancies are reliable predictors of pediatric procedure-related pain and possible useful targets for psychologic interventions to manage such pain.