Cognitive styles and processes in paediatric pain
Abstract
Abstract Chronic pain is prevalent in children and adolescents. The current chapter outlines an interpersonal perspective on child pain, demonstrating the central role of child and parent pain-related cognitions in the development and maintenance of chronic pain in childhood. Pain takes place within a social context: children’s expressions of pain (e.g. facial pain displays) are observed and decoded by others (parents), eliciting emotional and behavioural responses. Parents’ responses may impact child outcomes in two ways, directly by imposing activity limitations/encouraging activity engagement or indirectly through observational learning. Although personality and temperamental factors may predispose children and parents to perceive pain as more or less threatening to deal with, the model presented in this chapter focuses on proximal pain-related cognitive processes and associated behaviours that contribute to pain-related disability in children. Recent evidence suggests that perceptions of pain as highly threatening (i.e. catastrophizing) may lead to fearful reactions to pain, activity avoidant behaviours, and more disability. In parents, catastrophizing thoughts about child pain are associated with higher levels of child disability, with recent evidence implicating parent protective behaviours as a mediating mechanism.
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Parental fears and avoidance behaviors in the context of their child's pain contribute to the child's fear and disability levels.
“In addition to the child's fear of pain, parental fears and avoidance behaviors in the context of their child's pain also contribute to the child's fear and disability levels [5,6].”
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- Authors
- Goubert, L., & Simons, L. E.
- Venue
- Oxford Textbook of Paediatric Pain
- Publisher
- Oxford University PressOxford
- Published
- 2013-11
- Pages
- 95-101
- OpenAlex
- W1148675367
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 6.89
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K23HD067202)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- pediatric chronic pain, pain-related cognitions, pain catastrophizing, parent-child interaction, activity avoidance, pain-related disability, facial expressions of pain, observational learning
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