title: The treatment of recurrent abdominal pain in children: a controlled comparison of cognitive-behavioral family intervention and standard pediatric care.
abstract: This study describes the results of a controlled clinical trial involving 44 7- to 14-year-old children with recurrent abdominal pain who were randomly allocated to either cognitive-behavioral family intervention (CBFI) or standard pediatric care (SPC). Both treatment conditions resulted in significant improvements on measures of pain intensity and pain behavior. However, the children receiving CBFI had a higher rate of complete elimination of pain, lower levels of relapse at 6- and 12-month follow-up, and lower levels of interference with their activities as a result of pain and parents reported a higher level of satisfaction with the treatment than children receiving SPC. After controlling for pretreatment levels of pain, children's active self-coping and mothers' caregiving strategies were significant independent predictors of pain behavior at posttreatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland, Herston, Australia.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Shepherd
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cleghorn
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Woolford
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012008:Recurrence; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*