title: Normalizing: postoperative acute abdominal surgical pain in Thai children.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the postoperative pain experience of Thai children aged 5 to 7 years who had undergone abdominal surgery. A grounded theory approach was used to gain an understanding of the core process. A total of 15 children who had undergone abdominal surgery comprised the study. Data were collected by interviews, observations, and drawing and play interviews. The major task/hypothesis generated in this study was that children were addressing the process of normalizing and that creating an environment that allowed a child to normalize might be expected to greatly contribute to pain reduction.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songklanakarin University, Hatyai, Songkla, Thailand. fwantane@ratree.psu.ac.th
authors.forename: Wantanee
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wiroonpanich
authors.forename: June C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Strickland
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D000208:Acute Disease; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods; D013785:Thailand