Sensation and experience of pain in children.
The study explored children's self-assessment of the pain experience and to understood the relative factors that influence the words used to represent children's pain. Using an outline of a human figure and a section of the open questionnaire to study, 106 nine- to sixteen-year-old children marked their pain location using colors to represent pain. They rated the intensity and duration of their pain, and described their experience of pain (sensation, causes, and ways to manage pain). The results showed that children clearly described pain, that there were appreciable differences between feelings of headache, leg pain, backache, and shoulder pain with pain intensity and duration of pain; that explained the difference of occurrence of abdominal pain in cross effect between age and sex; that explained the difference of the occurrence of toothache in cross effect among triangle of hospitalized experience, age, and sex; that there was significant relationship between abdominal pain and family structure. For severe abdominal pain or toothache the children could ask doctors for pain relief. For the others, they could take medication or rest for their middle or mild abdominal pain. The ways to manage leg pain were injection and massage. Change of position was applied to relieve backache. From the children's self-reports, we understand that causes of children's pain were derived from bad sleep, food, decayed teeth, exercising, and hitting. Pain avoidance is best achieved by accident prevention, cultivation of good health habits, and integration of daily living skills.
Chen
J Y
JY
School of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical College, Taiwan, Republic of China.
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D059408:Pain Management; D012677:Sensation; D012737:Sex Factors